Market Power and Credit Rating Standards: Global Evidence

Mingyi Hung, Pepa Kraft, Shiheng Wang and Gwen Yu
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Mingyi Hung: Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (HKUST)
Pepa Kraft: HEC Paris
Shiheng Wang: Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (HKUST)
Gwen Yu: University of Michigan

No 1447, HEC Research Papers Series from HEC Paris

Abstract: We examine how the market power of credit rating agencies (CRAs) affects their rating standards. Using a global sample across 26 countries from 1994 to 2019, we find that greater market power of global CRAs, measured by their country-level market shares, is associated with stricter corporate ratings. In addition, the increase in global CRAs’ market shares contributes to the tightening trend in their credit ratings worldwide. Exploiting the NRSRO designation of local CRAs in Japan, we find that global CRAs issue more inflated ratings following a decline in their market power. Further, global CRAs’ greater market power is associated with timelier ratings, fewer missed defaults, but more false warnings. Collectively, our findings suggest that global rating agencies’ market power leads to stricter rating standards and timelier ratings by strengthening the agencies’ reputation concerns, but at the expense of increased false warnings.

Keywords: Market Power; Credit Rating Agency; Rating Standards; Reputation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G15 G24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 68 pages
Date: 2021-12-15
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ebg:heccah:1447

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