CREDIT RISK ASSESSMENT BY RATING AGENCIES: STANDARDIZATION VERSUS SUBJECTIVITY

Abstract

The development of the international financial market, the globalization of the financial resources and the increase of the world economic insecurity have been accompanied by the exponential rising of the corporate rating after 1980. There are three big agencies at mondial level, Moody’s, Standard&Poor’s and Fitch, which cover more than 94% of the international credit rating. The objective of this paper is to emphasize the conceptual and procedural similarities and differences of the mentioned agencies, with reference to the concepts and indicators used in the credit risk assessment. The main conclusions are: (1) the scales of risk assessment related to a security or entity used by the great rating agencies are approximately identical for the investment grade category, but they are different starting with the speculative grade category (2) the credit risk grade is based on a common standard list of risk factors.credit risk, rating agencies, risk factors