The three big credit rating agencies released their unsolicited ratings since 1996 and all of these unsolicited ratings are given to banks in Asia, especially in the emerging markets. This study aims to test whether there are differences between solicited and unsolicited bank ratings. We compare the financial profiles of solicited and unsolicited banks and investigate the factors that influence banks’ credit ratings. The empirical results show that unsolicited bank ratings are significantly lower than solicited ratings. It is seen that the financial variables of banks with solicited ratings are also better than those with unsolicited ratings. However, the profitability of banks with solicited ratings is significantly lower than those with unsolicited ratings. We see that listed and commercial banks tend to have lower credit ratings and it could be due to the fact that listed banks may face the volatility of their short-term stock prices, so their operating strategies are influenced by market noise, which leads to inferior performance. The reason why commercial banks tend to have lower credit ratings is that commercial banks face so fierce competition that their profitability is compressed. In the last section, we use an ordered probit model to examine the determinants of Fitch’s rating. We find that sovereign credit risk, solicited status, listed status, bank specialization, profitability and asset quality are the major factors influencing Fitch’s bank credit ratings.

Les normes IFRS, de part leur affiliation directe au modèle comptable anglo-saxon, soulèvent la question de la pertinence de leur mise en application au sein de l’Europe Continentale.Cette recherche tente d’éclairer cette question, en présentant, à partir d’une étude de cas de l’activité de cotation crédit Banque de France (BdF), les incidences du passage aux IFRS sur leur méthodologie d’analyse financière et sur le diagnostic crédit des groupes français.Cette recherche fait état d’un effet favorable des normes IFRS sur le diagnostic du risque de crédit des groupes français.Cet effet favorable passe aussi bien par un gain informatif des normes IFRS que par l’adaptation sélective et prudentielle de la méthodologie d’analyse financière BdF aux conventions IFRS. / IFRS, by their direct affiliation to the Anglo-Saxon accounting model, raise the question of their relevance to the Continental Europe context.This study aims to shed light on this question by highlighting, from a practical case study of the French Central Bank credit rating system, the implications of IFRS adoption in France for the methodology of financial statement analysis and credit rating of French groups.Results show a positive effect of new standards regarding the credit risk of non financial groups. They point out also that this effect can be equally attributed to the gain of transparency occasioned by the IFRS but also to the selective and conservative approach of the French Central Bank Credit Methodology.