We provide insights into determinants of the rating level of 371 issuers which defaulted in the years 1999 to 2003, and into the leader-follower relationship between Moody's and S&P. The evidence for the rating level suggests that Moody's assigns lower ratings than S&P for all observed periods...

Under a new Basel capital accord, bank regulators might use quantitative measures when evaluating the eligibility of internal credit rating systems for the internal ratings based approach. Based on data from Deutsche Bundesbank and using a simulation approach, we find that it is possible to...

We provide insights into determinants of the rating level of 371 issuers which defaulted in the years 1999 to 2003, and into the leader-follower relationship between Moody's and S&P. The evidence for the rating level suggests that Moody's assigns lower ratings than S&P for all observed periods...