Analysts at a major rating agency say the banks and insurers the firm rates tend to be more stable than the other companies in the firm’s financial institution rating universe.[@@]
The agency, Moody’s Investors Service, New York, has published a report that looks at the correlation between Moody’s bond ratings and issuer failures between 1984 and 2004.
In general, financial institutions of all kinds had higher ratings and lower default rates than other types of companies that Moody’s evaluated, according to the analysts who wrote the report.
The analysts found that 68, or 3.8%, of the 1,794 rated financial institutions defaulted on bonds during the period studied.