RSS feedstandard & poor’s
’Moody’s downgrades a trio of French banks
Posted by Kate Mackenzie on Dec 09 09:00. Comment.Showing a flair for irony we would not expect from a US-based company, Moody’s has made Europe’s morning complete by downgrading the three big French banks.
From the Moody’s statement on its new rating of Societe Generale: More…
Banks downgraded; fun’s over
Posted by Kate Mackenzie on Nov 30 08:45. Comment.Rally over?
Who knows, but Wednesday’s early drop is being pinned largely on S&P downgrading a bucket load of big banks — several of which will, as a result, need to boost their capital reserves. More…
A pox on all your AAA houses
Posted by Kate Mackenzie on Oct 21 08:31. Comment.No doubt it’s just a coincidence that S&P published new recession scenarios for the eurozone on the same day Brussels began talking about banning sovereign ratings on countries undergoing bail-outs… More…
A safe haven for repos
Posted by Kate Mackenzie on Aug 01 08:50. Comment.The deal on the US debt ceiling limit reached last night still leaves several questions — excluding whether it will actually pass in time to avoid some kind of default.
Assuming it does pass, though, More…
S&P puts US on Creditwatch ‘with negative implications’
Posted by Kate Mackenzie on Jul 15 08:32. Comment.…”there is at least a one-in-two likelihood that we could lower the long-term rating on the U.S. within the next 90 days.”
United States of America ‘AAA/A-1+’ Ratings
Placed On CreditWatch Negative On Rising
Risk Of Policy Stalemate
Overview
· Standard & More…
The French proposal, c’est un défaut sélectif, says S&P
Posted by Neil Hume on Jul 04 08:20. Comment.This isn’t very helpful.
S&P says the French proposal to collateralise a Greek rollover – so popular it’s been likened to a toxic CDO – would amount to selective default under its criteria.
Selected highlights from Monday’s statement (emphasis ours): More…
S&P call time on investment banking
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Jun 30 14:51. Comment.Don’t get them wrong. Rating agency Standard & Poor’s appreciates investment banking.
“Global banks need to service their client base with an investment banking arm,” they write in a report out on Thursday. More…
Sovereign ratings still relevant – but mostly when they go negative
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Jun 01 11:25. Comment.Just in case you were wondering.
Bond markets still react to sovereign ratings announcements, though they tend to react more when the rating agencies say something negative. That’s the conclusion of a new working paper from the European Central Bank, More…
Machine-readable sovereign downgrades are here
Posted by Tracy Alloway on May 16 14:21. Comment.Here’s how those macro-obsessed markets are helping to reshape market technology:
New York, NY – May 16, 2011 – Selerity, a provider of real-time event data solutions for the financial services industry announced today an agreement with Standard & More…
ESM contingent liabilities, quantified
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Apr 12 08:47. Comment.From Standard & Poor’s on Monday — a little Q&A on the European Stabilisation Mechanism:
Will the ESM mechanism have implications for the creditworthiness of the ‘AAA’ rated sovereign guarantors?
We consider the ESM, More…
Death by expenses – the ACA Euro 2007-1 CLO
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Mar 25 15:02. Comment.Did any one read the fine print in this CLO bond prospectus?
Because ACA Europe 2007-1, a €400m collateralised loan obligation issued by a UK unit of ACA Capital Holdings is in a spot of trouble.
From the deal prospectus: More…
Snap news
Posted by Neil Hume on Mar 25 07:54. Comment.Breaking pre-market news on Friday,
- Standard & Poor’s cuts Portugal by two notches to BBB; warns of further downgrade — report.
- BP seeks determination to proceed with Rosneft share swap transaction — statement. More…
One of these ratings opinions is not like the other
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Feb 22 16:56. Comment.Below are three rating agency opinions on Sequoia Mortgage Trust 2011-1 — which cobbles together mostly California-based mortgages from Redwood, and also happens to be the first private Residential Mortgage-Backed Security deal of the year. More…
CoCos at dawn
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Feb 21 08:30. Comment.Moody’s on Monday:
For both securities, there is a persistent challenge for investors: how to determine the potential for loss when the triggers resulting in equity conversion are not transparent and allow for significant regulatory discretion. More…
Moans of the monolines
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Feb 02 12:32. Comment.Assured Guaranty Ltd. doesn’t like Standard & Poor’s new proposed rating methodology for bond insurers like (ahem) Assured Guaranty Ltd.
In fact, Assured’s CEO let rip in a Tuesday conference call: More…
Sovereign-bank loops, S&P and Ireland edition
Posted by Joseph Cotterill on Feb 02 12:07. Comment.Usually in Europe’s debt crisis, it’s been the sovereigns that have been downgraded first — and only then have their domestic banks followed.
In this, as in so much else, Irish banking just broke the mould. More…
Another Egypt downgrade – S&P cuts to BB
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Feb 01 10:18. Comment.Just when things were beginning to look up for Egypt…
… Standard & Poor’s has followed Moody’s and downgraded the country’s ratings.
The statement, with our highlights, below:
Rating Action On Feb. More…
Japan downgrade: The (umpteenth) denouement
Posted by Gwen Robinson on Jan 27 10:21. Comment.Thursday’s move by S&P to downgrade Japan’s sovereign credit rating was about as surprising as the inevitably tragic outcome of a much-loved kabuki play. Equally predictable, the rating agency cited the government’s lack of a clear strategy in reducing Japan’s large debt burden, More…
An update from S&P’s covered bond wars
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Jan 18 14:15. Comment.A bad day for Standard & Poor’s.
Two rating withdrawal requests before lunchtime:
We are converting our ‘BBB+’ long-term and ‘A-2′ short-term counterparty credit ratings on Germany-based WestLB AG to unsolicited ratings following a request by the bank to terminate its relationship with Standard & More…
Bye, bye AAA-rated banks at S&P…
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Jan 12 13:53. Comment.It’s weird that last week’s 73-page monster report from Standard & Poor’s, on possible changes to the way it rates the world’s banks, didn’t get more attention.
It’s an interesting attempt by S&P to make up for rating agency shortcomings (to put it mildly, More…
S&P no longer negative on Britain’s AAA
Posted by Joseph Cotterill on Oct 26 12:00. Comment.More good news for the UK / One for the credit rating nerds, this.
Standard & Poor’s has affirmed the UK’s AAA credit rating (yawn). However, the agency’s also altered its outlook from negative to stable. More…
Rating agency multiplicity
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Oct 06 10:06. Comment.BREAK THE BIG THREE MONOPOLY!
MORE RATINGS FOR BETTER RATINGS!
And so on, go the regulators.
But watch it. A new NBER working paper — by Bo Becker of Harvard Business School and Todd Milbourn from Washington University — asks just how increased competition affects the ratings industry? Their findings are not what you might expect. More…
Hell hath no fury like a sovereign scorned
Posted by Neil Hume on Aug 25 10:35. Comment.There’s really nothing quite like a punch-up between a downgraded sovereign and a rating agency.
And Ireland has come out swinging in the wake of S&P’s overnight downgrade.
From Reuters (emphasis ours): More…
Sovereign ratings made in China
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Jul 13 08:10. Comment.Ever wondered what sovereign ratings might look like?
You know, the kind of ratings that China president Hu Jintao might have had in mind when he called for a more accurate ratings system at last month’s G20 meeting? Well, More…
The rating agencies downgrade . . . the rating agencies
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Jun 30 08:40. Comment.Here’s some late Tuesday rating agency hilarity to take the edge off a Wednesday morning:
S&P Puts Moody’s Corp. ‘A-1′ Short-Term Rtg On Watch Negative
– We believe there may be added risk to U.S.-based credit rating agency Moody’s business profile following recent U.S. More…
[UK Austerity Budget] Ratings agencies react
Posted by Neil Hume on Jun 22 16:50. Comment.The rating agencies are beginning to respond to Tuesday’s ‘unavoidable Budget’ in Britain.
Via Reuters:
LONDON-UK EMERGENCY BUDGET COMPLEX, WILL HAVE TO ANALYSE DETAILS BEFORE DECIDING ON UK RATING -S&P OFFICIAL
No clues there as to whether S&P will retain its negative outlook on the UK. More…
Everyone v the rating agencies
Posted by Stacy-Marie Ishmael on Jun 02 16:28. Comment.No, it’s not déjà vu. The rating agencies are once again being hauled up before a jury of their not-quite peers.
This is not the first, nor even the second time the likes of Moody’s and Standard & More…
Einhorn: long America’s grandchildren, short rating agencies
Posted by Stacy-Marie Ishmael on May 27 15:09. Comment.Don’t let that baby face deceive you. David Einhorn has never been shy about picking fights, as Erin Callan learned to her cost.
Einhorn’s op-ed in the NY Times on Thursday was no exception. The hedgie ranged widely, More…
DBRS, or the rating agency you’ve never heard of
Posted by Stacy-Marie Ishmael on May 24 20:12. Comment.The Wall Street Journal on Monday ran an important and timely story on the continued practice of ‘ratings shopping’, in which an issuer approaches multiple agencies in an effort to get the highest possible rating: More…
Testing Re-Remics
Posted by Tracy Alloway on May 17 13:07. Comment.A Friday resecuritisation fail, via Bloomberg:
May 14 (Bloomberg) — Standard & Poor’s cut to junk the ratings on certain securities, backed by U.S. mortgage bonds, that it granted AAA grades when they were created last year by Credit Suisse Group, More…