Las calificadoras de riesgo, su rol en los mercados financieros y el caso uruguayo – Pág. 69 a 89

Abstract

ABSTRACT

 Despite the recent criticism rating agencies (RA) have received after the mortgage crisis in the United States in 2008 and the subsequent European debacle, it is evident they are still relevant in financial markets because they shed light on the credit quality of issuers to the market.

 Therefore, the overall costs that issuers –both public and private– will face, the potential demand from the rest of the world by financial markets and the overall image of a country will depend, to some extent, on the verdict that these companies provide. However, the opinions of the RA should be taken in addition to other sources of analysis, such as those made ​​by investors themselves or by investment banks. Consequently, investors that only take into account the information of the RA as a perfect substitute for their own analysis or that made by third parties have not fully understood the role of the former.

In that context, this paper aims to describe how these agencies work, identifying the main methodological aspects they use for evaluating sovereign bonds. It also describes how they ranked sovereign Uruguay’s bonds in recent years –compared with the market’s evaluations– and how local securities are evaluated by RA.

  Key words: rating agencies, ratings, investment grade, credit ratings methodologies

 JEL Classification: E44, G15, G29