Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/36725 
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
DIW Discussion Papers No. 1009
Publisher: 
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW), Berlin
Abstract: 
We model EU countries' bank ratings using financial variables and allowing for intercept and slope heterogeneity. Our aim is to assess whether old and new EU countries are rated differently and to determine whether new ones are assigned lower ratings, ceteris paribus, than old ones. We find that country-specific factors (in the form of heterogeneous intercepts) are a crucial determinant of ratings. Whilst new EU countries typically have lower ratings than old ones, after controlling for financial variables we also discover that all countries have significantly different intercepts, confirming our prior belief. This intercept heterogeneity suggests that each country's rating is assigned uniquely, after controlling for differences in financial factors, which may reflect differences in country risk and the legal and regulatory framework that banks face (such as foreclosure laws). In addition, we find that ratings may respond differently to the liquidity and operating expenses to operating income variables across countries. Typically ratings are more responsive to the former and less sensitive to the latter for new EU countries compared with old EU countries.
Subjects: 
EU countries
banks
ratings
ordered probit models
index of indicator variable
JEL: 
C25
C51
C52
G21
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
226.14 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.