Moody’s Euro ratings surpass US ratings in accuracy, says report

In a recent report that compares the quality of corporate ratings given in continental Europe and the US by Moody’s, the rating agency, it is shown that ratings in continental Europe were found to be more accurate than their north American counterparts. The European ratings, according to the report, are more efficient in ranking default risk in absolute terms and relative to market-based credit measures, specifically in the one-year and three-year horizons.

For the period 1999-2003, European accuracy ratios exceeded American accuracy ratios by 15.8%