[pt] O mercado de capitais das grandes economias mundiais já incorporou o conceito de rating, ou seja, a classificação de risco de crédito, utilizada amplamente nos Estados Unidos há muitos anos. A existência de agências de rating capazes de fornecer classificações de risco de crédito totalmente independentes é uma condição imprescindível para o desenvolvimento de qualquer mercado de dívida. Este estudo tem como objetivo avaliar se as variáveis definidas no contrato de um bônus corporativo afetam o rating determinado por estas instituições para determinada emissão. Foram analisadas as variáveis cupom, preço de emissão, volume de emissão, maturidade e a presença de garantia. Além disso, analisou-se também a influência do risco país representado pelo EMBI +. Quanto ao método de análise, optou-se por comparar o método dos mínimos quadrados ordinários (MQO) com o probit ordenado. Os resultados mostram que não houve diferença de desempenho entre os dois modelos. E quanto às variáveis analisadas, apenas o cupom demonstrou exercer influência sobre o rating da emissão. / [en] The financial markets in the largest economies of the world often utilize rating agencies as a tool for credit risk classification, following the concept introduced in the USA a long time ago. The existence of independent institutions capable of classifying credit risk is a vital condition for the development of debt market. This study aims at analysing whether the variables defined in the indenture of the bond issue affect the rating assigned by rating agencies. The following variables were investigated: coupon, price, issued amount, maturity and the existence of collateral. Furthermore, it was analysed if the country risk, represented by the EMBI+ index, also affected the bond rating. Regarding the methodology, the ordinary least square (OLS) and ordered probit were chosen as the method of analysis. A comparative study was performed and the results indicated no major differences between both models. Concerning the variables analysed, only the coupon has shown some influence on the bond rating.

This paper performs an analysis of rating agencies and evaluates their importance for financial markets and economic policy. The importance of rating agencies and their ratings is assessed based on two criteria -- independence and accuracy of ratings, both criteria are analysed in detail from different views throughout this paper. Independence of rating agencies is considered in terms of historical context and the most important development milestones and trends, in terms of market positioning and demand for services of rating agencies, in terms of ownership structures and financing models. Accuracy of ratings is considered by historical analyses of sovereign ratings from the times of the Asian financial crisis, the European debt crisis and sovereign debt defaults and restructuralisations since 1990. In the issue of independence, the paper has revealed several risk factors, mainly in relation to financing model "issuer pays". In the issue of sovereign rating accuracy, the paper has come to a conclusion that rating agencies were only able to identify the most visible negative trends -- defaults and restructuralisations of debts in countries, where the problems had developed gradually. On the other hand, in surprising and sudden cases such as the Asian financial crisis and the European debt crisis, rating agencies were suprised just like the wider investor's public.

The thesis deals with the rating agencies as the significant and influential subjects on the financial markets. The main aim of the thesis is a description of rating, especially sovereign rating and its impact in international investment environment. The thesis also focuses on individual approaches of agencies in the rating process as well as distinctive legislative framework and efforts to change the regulation of agencies since 2007. The thesis is divided into four chapters. The first chapter deals with the definition and specification of rating and its alternatives. The second chapter deals with the rating agencies as the specific entities, their oligopolistic market position and criteria for awarding rating marks. The third chapter specifies the legislative measures relating to credit rating agencies and the major post-crisis changes. Lastly, the fourth chapter analyzes sovereign rating and its importance in the process of international investment.

Environmental, Social and Governance measurements have significantly increased in usage due to growing concerns for environmental and sustainability problems in today’s world. However, with no commonly agreed-upon criteria for ESG ratings, the scoring measure creates confusion both at the investor and company level. Besides, ESG agencies have different processes and parameters for measuring ESG compliance, which contributes to the problem. The study examines four ESG rating agencies’ rating models and ESG scores to get a better understanding of deviations in ESG scores among Nordic companies. By also studying the correlation amongst ESG scores and market capitalizations in firms, the paper hopes to shed light on if any relationships exist between them. Our results show that the four major ESG raters in the study showed a weak to a non-significant correlation against each other. The maximum correlation found was 0.419 between Thomson Reuters and MSCI. RobecoSAM and MSCI showed the lowest significant correlation at 0.291. Sustainalytics was detected not to show any significant correlation with the other raters. Correlation among market capitalization and ESG Raters was detected to not correlate to a greater extent. Only one ESG rater, RobecoSAM, showed a significant size to score-correlation at 0.278 with market capitalization. Thus, market capitalization does not seem to have any significant influence on ESG agencies’ decisions to set scores. Précising the study’s findings, the raters’ methods deviate from one another, but also how ESG raters make use of underlying factors.

Les agences de notations ont récemment été l'objet d'une grande attention. Leur responsabilité dans la crise des subprimes a été questionné. Les médias ont mis en avant les notes trop généreuses qui avaient été attribué à certains produits complexes, avant de s'interroger sur leur comportement quand elles ont dégradé les notes des dettes souveraines. Dans cette thèse, après avoir revu une partie de la littérature sur le sujet, je m'interroge sur deux aspects spécifique de leur activité:(i) Quels sont les conséquences de confier une information publique (comme une note de crédit) à une entité privée ?(ii) Les agences de notations disent avoir pour principal actif la réputation. Cette dernière peut expliquer pourquoi on observe des périodes de sur- notations et d'autres de sous-notations ? / Credit rating agencies have recently been under a lot of scrutiny. Their responsibility in the last financial crisis has been questioned. They received much attention from the media. The credit rating agencies have been blamed for their too generous ratings before the crisis and also for being too severe during the European debt crisis. In this thesis, after an overlook of the recent literature, I look at two specific issues related to their activity: • What issues arise when public information is released by a private entity on financial markets? • Can reputation explains why a credit rating agency can be caught underrating (respectively overrating)

The 2007/2008 financial crisis and the role that credit rating agencies (CRA’s) played leading up to the crisis precipitated the introduction of CRA regulation worldwide. By using Giddens’s (1990. 1991) theory of modernity as a framework, this study explores the rationale for the introduction of CRA regulation in South Africa (the Credit Rating Services Act No. 24 of 2012), with a specific focus on trust and legitimacy. The findings in this study suggest that while the introduction of new regulation is a mechanism used to legitimise the capital system, it often has limitations and unforeseen consequences. This study used detailed interviews with some of South Africa’s leading experts on the credit rating industry to explain the reasoning for South African CRA regulation. Lastly, this thesis adds to the scant body of interpretive (and normative) research on the use of arms-length regulation in modern governance discourse, and it is also the first research to explore CRA regulation in the South African context.

The spreading sovereign debt crisis in the Euro zone has renewed the debate about impact of credit rating agencies on financial markets. This thesis aims to explore the role played by the leading credit rating agencies by analysing the interaction between changes in sovereign ratings announced and the yield spreads of sovereign bonds, especially the short term impact and the potential contagion effect of rating changes on the highly integrated Euro zone financial market. The conducted event study and panel regression indicate that there is a significant impact of rating downgrades and negative rating outlooks on sovereign bond markets. Moreover, we have found significant contagion effect spreading from downgraded countries to non-event Euro zone members, namely not only to sovereign bond markets, but also to stock markets. JEL Classification: C23, E44, G12, G14 Keywords: credit ratings; sovereign yield spreads; rating agencies; contagion Author's email: veronika.vyskocilova@email.cz Supervisor's email: roman.horvath@gmail.com

Credit rating agencies judge the creditworthiness of the debtors and debt obligations and the relative probability of their default. Credit rating plays a very important role in the financial markets. It influences the behavior of all participants (investors, debtors and regulators) of the market transactions. The first part of the thesis deals with definition and function of the credit rating. The main controversial points in the activity of the credit rating agencies will be discussed, as well as how the industry is regulated. In the second part it is claimed that the opinions of the credit rating agencies on sovereign bonds (sovereign rating) contribute to the overheating of the economies or to the deeper recession due to procyclicity of the rating. The actual credit rating of the country will be compared with a rating based on a theoretical model designed with publicly available economic data.

This master thesis analyzes the relationship between the change of sovereign rating and market behaviour. The first part is devoted to rating itself. I present the various types of the rating, development, structure and risks of the market for credit rating agencies. The second part focuses on the nature of government bonds and the methodology for determining credit rating. The third part contains an analysis of market indicators in selected countries, econometric analysis of the relationship between credit ratings and risk perception in the market and comparison with other indicators of potential default. I summarize all the knowledge in the conclusion and I am trying to predict future developments in the market for credit rating agencies.

Le agenzie di rating nascono come intermediari di informazione tra coloro che emettono titoli e gli investitori. La crisi finanziaria ha generato intense critiche verso l’industria del rating. La conseguenza è un potenziale ridimensionamento dell’utilizzo del rating che avviene per esempio con emittenti che non acquistano più la certificazione. Nel presente elaborato mi focalizzo sul ruolo delle agenzie di rating studiando la loro influenza sul costo del capitale e sul finanziamento delle imprese. Il primo capitolo riassume le precedenti evidenze empiriche sul contenuto informativo del rating. Il secondo e il terzo capitolo dell’elaborato offrono un nuovo contributo alla letteratura utilizzando due tipologie di cancellazione di rating avvenute tra il 2001 e il 2011. La prima tipologia avviene nel caso in cui l’azienda cessa di essere monitorata e certificata dall’agenzia. La seconda tipologia avviene per un cambio di policy di Moody’s che modifica il rating in circolazione senza alcun cambiamento nei fondamentali dell’emittente. L’elaborato mostra che il rating influenza il costo del capitale e il finanziamento delle imprese. / Rating agencies exist to assess the creditworthiness of issuers and reduce the adverse effect of information asymmetry. However, the effectiveness of such financial intermediaries in mitigating information asymmetry has been doubted in particular after the financial crisis. In this thesis, I examine two types of Moody’s' credit rating withdrawals to assess whether rating contains relevant information for investors. The first type of withdrawals occurs when the firm stops being rated. The second type of withdrawals occurs because Moody's implemented a policy to refine the outstanding rating information without any change in the firms’ fundamentals . I show that the rating withdrawals influence the firms’ credit market access, financing decisions and cost of capital. I conclude that rating information has a value for market participants.