• sovereign credit rating
• credit rating
• agenzie di rating

This paper analyses the effects of a change in the sovereign credit rating on companies belonging to different economic sectors. The intent is to describe the rating industry, explaining its social role and the responsibility it has had from the outset. The first part of the thesis focuses on the role of agencies in contributing to the reduction of the information gap between issuers and investors, and then continues with the description of these entities and their historical path to date.
The central part of the text deals with the rating determination process, mainly focusing on the methodologies used to assess the creditworthiness of an issuer.
The final part examines the effects of a change in sovereign credit rating on the solvency of companies belonging to different economic sectors, applying this concept to the Italian, Spanish and German context.