IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/reveco/v63y2019icp253-272.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What role does the investor-paid rating agency play in China? Competitor or information provider

Author

Listed:
  • Huang, Yu-Li
  • Shen, Chung-Hua

Abstract

This paper investigates whether an investor-paid rating agency plays the role of a competitor or an information provider in China. We find that the incumbent issuer-paid rating agencies regard the investor-paid rating agency, the China Bond Rating Company, Ltd. (CBRC), as a competitor. They are more likely to downgrade or less likely to upgrade ratings when the CBRC also covers the issuer. Further, the information quality of the ratings improves for the issuers that CBRC also covers. We also find that the investor-paid agency plays the role of an information provider. CBRC's rating grades and their difference with issuer-paid rating agencies can explain bond yield spreads. We further find that the effects of the improvement in the quality of the information behind the ratings are consistent for CBRC's solicited and unsolicited ratings.

Suggested Citation

  • Huang, Yu-Li & Shen, Chung-Hua, 2019. "What role does the investor-paid rating agency play in China? Competitor or information provider," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 253-272.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:reveco:v:63:y:2019:i:c:p:253-272
    DOI: 10.1016/j.iref.2018.11.007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1059056018309791
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.iref.2018.11.007?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Winnie P. H. Poon & Michael Firth, 2005. "Are Unsolicited Credit Ratings Lower? International Evidence From Bank Ratings," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(9-10), pages 1741-1771.
    2. François Derrien & Ambrus Kecskés, 2013. "The Real Effects of Financial Shocks: Evidence from Exogenous Changes in Analyst Coverage," Post-Print hal-00852356, HAL.
    3. Wu, Meng-Wen & Shen, Chung-Hua, 2013. "Corporate social responsibility in the banking industry: Motives and financial performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(9), pages 3529-3547.
    4. Skreta, Vasiliki & Veldkamp, Laura, 2009. "Ratings shopping and asset complexity: A theory of ratings inflation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(5), pages 678-695, July.
    5. Marco Pagano & Paolo Volpin, 2010. "Credit ratings failures and policy options [Cash-in-the-market pricing and optimal resolution of bank failures]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 25(62), pages 401-431.
    6. Reuven Glick & Xueyan Guo & Michael Hutchison, 2006. "Currency Crises, Capital-Account Liberalization, and Selection Bias," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 88(4), pages 698-714, November.
    7. Bryan Kelly & Alexander Ljungqvist, 2012. "Testing Asymmetric-Information Asset Pricing Models," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(5), pages 1366-1413.
    8. Winnie P. H. Poon & Junsoo Lee & Benton E. Gup, 2009. "Do Solicitations Matter in Bank Credit Ratings? Results from a Study of 72 Countries," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(2‐3), pages 285-314, March.
    9. Miles Livingston & Jie (Diana) Wei & Lei Zhou, 2010. "Moody's and S&P Ratings: Are They Equivalent? Conservative Ratings and Split Rated Bond Yields," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 42(7), pages 1267-1293, October.
    10. Winnie P. H. Poon & Michael Firth, 2005. "Are Unsolicited Credit Ratings Lower? International Evidence From Bank Ratings," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(9‐10), pages 1741-1771, November.
    11. James Heckman & Salvador Navarro-Lozano, 2004. "Using Matching, Instrumental Variables, and Control Functions to Estimate Economic Choice Models," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(1), pages 30-57, February.
    12. Miles Livingston & Jie (Diana) Wei & Lei Zhou, 2010. "Moody's and S&P Ratings: Are They Equivalent? Conservative Ratings and Split Rated Bond Yields," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 42(7), pages 1267-1293, October.
    13. Harrison Hong & Marcin Kacperczyk, 2010. "Competition and Bias," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(4), pages 1683-1725.
    14. Diomande M. Ahmed & Heintz James S. & Pollin Robert N., 2009. "Why U.S. Financial Markets Need a Public Credit Rating Agency," The Economists' Voice, De Gruyter, vol. 6(6), pages 1-4, June.
    15. Miles Livingston & Andy Naranjo & Lei Zhou, 2007. "Asset Opaqueness and Split Bond Ratings," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 36(3), pages 49-62, September.
    16. Anil K. Kashyap & Natalia Kovrijnykh, 2016. "Who Should Pay for Credit Ratings and How?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(2), pages 420-456.
    17. Liu, Pu & Moore, William T, 1987. "The Impact of Split Bond Ratings on Risk Premia," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 22(1), pages 71-85, February.
    18. Xia, Han, 2014. "Can investor-paid credit rating agencies improve the information quality of issuer-paid rating agencies?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(2), pages 450-468.
    19. Poon, Winnie P. H., 2003. "Are unsolicited credit ratings biased downward?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 593-614, April.
    20. Patrick Roy, 2013. "Is There a Difference Between Solicited and Unsolicited Bank Ratings and, If So, Why?," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 44(1), pages 53-86, August.
    21. Reiter, Sara A & Ziebart, David A, 1991. "Bond Yields, Ratings, and Financial Information: Evidence from Public Utility Issues," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 26(1), pages 45-73, February.
    22. Lisa M. Fairchild & Susan M. V. Flaherty & Yoon S. Shin, 2009. "Analysis of Unsolicited Credit Ratings in Japan: New Evidence from Moody's," Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies (RPBFMP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 12(01), pages 103-123.
    23. Jiang, John (Xuefeng) & Harris Stanford, Mary & Xie, Yuan, 2012. "Does it matter who pays for bond ratings? Historical evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(3), pages 607-621.
    24. Naoto Shimoda & Yuko Kawai, 2007. "Credit Rating Gaps in Japan: Differences between Solicited and Unsolicited Ratings, and "Rating Splits"," Bank of Japan Working Paper Series 07-E-11, Bank of Japan.
    25. François Derrien & Ambrus Kecskés, 2013. "The Real Effects of Financial Shocks: Evidence from Exogenous Changes in Analyst Coverage," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(4), pages 1407-1440, August.
    26. Beaver, William H. & Shakespeare, Catherine & Soliman, Mark T., 2006. "Differential properties in the ratings of certified versus non-certified bond-rating agencies," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 303-334, December.
    27. Jess Cornaggia & Kimberly J. Cornaggia, 2013. "Estimating the Costs of Issuer-Paid Credit Ratings," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(9), pages 2229-2269.
    28. Jeff Jewell & Miles Livingston, 1998. "Split Ratings, Bond Yields, And Underwriter Spreads," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 21(2), pages 185-204, June.
    29. Cantor, Richard & Packer, Frank, 1997. "Differences of opinion and selection bias in the credit rating industry," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 21(10), pages 1395-1417, October.
    30. Donald P. Morgan, 2002. "Rating Banks: Risk and Uncertainty in an Opaque Industry," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(4), pages 874-888, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Krishnan, Kaveri & Mukherji, Arnab & Basu, Sankarshan, 2020. "Market responses to increased transparency: An Indian narrative," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 663-677.
    2. Liu, Xiaojian & Chong, Beng Soon & Feng, Xiaozhi, 2023. "Does the market differentiate between investor-paid and issuer-paid ratings in the pricing of asset-backed securities?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    3. Ke Sun, 2022. "Do Rating Change Announcements Transfer Effective Information? Test on the Effectiveness and Sustainability of Credit Rating in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-15, October.
    4. Liu, Yan, 2023. "Essays on credit rating agencies in China," Other publications TiSEM b54b3315-1185-48b8-aaf8-8, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    5. Wang, Yuyue & Fang, Hongyan & Luo, Ronghua, 2022. "Does state ownership affect rating quality? Evidence from China's corporate bond market," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    6. Wenming Xu & Yan Liu, 2021. "Does reputational capital affect credit rating agencies?: empirical evidence from a natural experiment in China," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 433-468, June.
    7. Chandan Sharma & Archana Singh & Rajan Yadav, 2023. "Impact of Competition in Credit Rating Industry: Evidence From India," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(1), pages 21582440221, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Huang, Yu-Li & Shen, Chung-Hua, 2021. "From revenue to safety: Rating agencies have changed their concerns after the crisis," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    2. Shen, Chung-Hua & Huang, Yu-Li & Hasan, Iftekhar, 2012. "Asymmetric benchmarking in bank credit rating," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 171-193.
    3. Mathias Kronlund, 2020. "Do Bond Issuers Shop for Favorable Credit Ratings?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(12), pages 5944-5968, December.
    4. Thomas Mählmann, 2009. "Multiple Credit Ratings, Cost of Debt and Self‐Selection," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(9‐10), pages 1228-1251, November.
    5. Zhao, Sheng & Moreira, Fernando & Wang, Tong, 2021. "Is solicitation status related to rating conservatism and rating quality?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    6. Wai Choi Lee & Jianfu Shen & Tsun Se Cheong & Michal Wojewodzki, 2021. "Detecting conflicts of interest in credit rating changes: a distribution dynamics approach," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 7(1), pages 1-23, December.
    7. Wenming Xu & Yan Liu, 2021. "Does reputational capital affect credit rating agencies?: empirical evidence from a natural experiment in China," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 433-468, June.
    8. Jess N. Cornaggia & Kimberly J. Cornaggia & John E. Hund, 2017. "Credit Ratings Across Asset Classes: A Long-Term Perspective," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 21(2), pages 465-509.
    9. Christina E. Bannier & Patrick Behr & Andre Güttler, 2010. "Rating opaque borrowers: why are unsolicited ratings lower?," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 14(2), pages 263-294.
    10. Patrick Roy, 2013. "Is There a Difference Between Solicited and Unsolicited Bank Ratings and, If So, Why?," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 44(1), pages 53-86, August.
    11. Valentina Bruno & Jess Cornaggia & Kimberly J. Cornaggia, 2016. "Does Regulatory Certification Affect the Information Content of Credit Ratings?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(6), pages 1578-1597, June.
    12. Hu, Xiaolu & Huang, Haozhi & Pan, Zheyao & Shi, Jing, 2019. "Information asymmetry and credit rating: A quasi-natural experiment from China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 132-152.
    13. Yigit Atilgan & Aloke (Al) Ghosh & Meng Yan & Jieying Zhang, 2015. "Cross‐Listed Bonds, Information Asymmetry, and Conservatism in Credit Ratings," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 47(5), pages 897-929, August.
    14. Berwart, Erik & Guidolin, Massimo & Milidonis, Andreas, 2019. "An empirical analysis of changes in the relative timeliness of issuer-paid vs. investor-paid ratings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 88-118.
    15. Schaetzle, Dominik, 2011. "Ökonomische Funktionen von Ratingagenturen: Ratingagenturen in der neoinstitutionalistischen Finanzierungstheorie," Arbeitspapiere 113, University of Münster, Institute for Cooperatives.
    16. Liu, Yan, 2023. "Essays on credit rating agencies in China," Other publications TiSEM b54b3315-1185-48b8-aaf8-8, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    17. Winnie P. H. Poon & Junsoo Lee & Benton E. Gup, 2009. "Do Solicitations Matter in Bank Credit Ratings? Results from a Study of 72 Countries," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(2‐3), pages 285-314, March.
    18. Federica Salvadè, 2018. "Is less information better information? Evidence from the credit rating withdrawal," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 51(1), pages 139-157, July.
    19. Thomas Mählmann, 2009. "Multiple Credit Ratings, Cost of Debt and Self-Selection," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(9-10), pages 1228-1251.
    20. Vu, Huong & Alsakka, Rasha & ap Gwilym, Owain, 2022. "Does competition improve sovereign credit rating quality?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Credit rating; Issuer-paid rating agency; Investor-paid rating agency; Competition; Information provider;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:reveco:v:63:y:2019:i:c:p:253-272. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620165 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.