The impact of sovereign rating news on European banks

This paper examines the spillover effect of Eurozone sovereign rating changes announced by Standard and Poor's, Moody's, and Fitch on domestic bank share prices in the period 2002-2012. This spillover effect appears negative in the case of downgrades, but insignificant for upgrades. Surprisingly, announcement of sovereign negative credit watches results in increased bank stock returns. Bank share price losses following sovereign downgrades increase as bank leverage, efficiency, and equity performance increase, and they decrease as bank systematic risk and payout ratio increase. On the contrary, bank share prices rise following sovereign negative credit watches, as leverage and bank size decrease and as bank systematic risk increases.