This study investigates the role of tax avoidance in the credit rating process and whether differences exist in how rating agencies account for the risk relevance of tax avoidance. Using a sample of initial credit ratings assigned to public debt issuances during the 1994-2013 period, our...

This article analyzes the over-indebtedness caused by irresponsible mortgage lending by credit institutions in Spain that have been exacerbated by the economic crisis, the falling value of the real estate market and rising unemployment. This creates the risk of social and financial exclusion of...

This article explores the question of whether bond insurers are able to sufficiently evaluate the credit risk of insured bonds, the answer to which would determine the future of municipal bond insurance. A sample of insured municipal bonds is investigated to determine whether bond insurance...

Credit ratings agencies play an important role in the world-wide capital markets and, willingly or not, influence rather significantly the destinies of private and public financial players and their issues. Credit rating agencies invoke reputation as their most valuable asset and as guarantee...

The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) has led to a general discussion of the accuracy and declining standards of credit rating agency ratings. Substantial criticism has been directed toward the securitisation market, which has been identified as one of the main sources of the crisis. This study...

This paper investigates the information in corporate credit ratings. If ratings are to be informative indicators of credit risk they must reflect what a risk-averse investor cares about: both raw default probability and systematic risk. We find that ratings are relatively inaccurate measures of...

Credit rating agencies formulate publicly available opinions on the capacity and willingness of debtors to repay debts. By doing so, they reduce the information asymmetry between creditors and borrowers. Owing to regulatory efforts commenced in recent years, credit rating processes have become...

This study examines the impact of credit rating announcement on stock returns of 22 banks rated by the Pakistan Credit Rating Agency and listed in Karachi Stock Exchange. Daily stock returns have been used, covering period from 2008 to 2014. The study uses event study methodology; a fifteen days...

This paper studies whether credit rating agencies applied consistent rating standards to U.S. corporate bonds over the expansion and recession periods between 2002 and 2011. Based on estimates of issuing firms' credit quality from a structural model, I find that rating standards are in fact...

We study a model in which an issuer can manipulate information obtained by a credit rating agency (CRA). Better CRA screening reduces the likelihood of a high rating, but increases the value of a rated security. We find that improving the prior quality of assets can have no effect on the quality...