S&P Credit Market Services:
Expanding World of S&P Ratings

From pre-issuance to post-issuance, financial decision makers are utilizing a growing range of S&P products and services to identify, measure, and manage credit risk. These S&P offerings are creating additional growth opportunities.

Globally, S&P rated more than $4 trillion in new debt and published more than 870,000 new and revised ratings in 2009
 
S&P growing
 

S&P’s Rating Track Record: Meeting the Test of Time

What is an S&P credit rating?

It is an opinion about credit risk—the ability and willingness of an issuer to meet a financial obligation in full and on time. Credit ratings also indicate credit quality—the relative likelihood that an issue may default. S&P’s global ratings scale provides a benchmark for evaluating the relative credit risk of issuers and issues worldwide.

How S&P ratings perform:
The tables (below) show the default rates experienced for each rating category over 30 years. For example, the 5-year cumulative default rate for corporate bonds rated AAA has been 0.39%, or less than four defaults for every 1,000 ratings. The 5-year cumulative default rate for AAA-rated structured finance issues has been 0.81%.

These default rate tables underscore a key point: Over time, the higher the S&P rating, the fewer defaults that have been experienced
 
Global Corporate Average Cumulative Default rates (1981-2009)
 
Global Structured Finance Average Cumulative Default rates 1978-2009
 



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