China Interbank Market Dealers Association: A total of 5,625 issuers of corporate bonds and financial bonds were in existence as of March 31, 2025

The Zhitong Finance App learned that according to data released by the China Interbank Market Dealers Association, as of March 31, 2025, there were 5,625 existing issuers of corporate credit bonds and financial bonds. Among them, there were 3065, 4,189, and 505 issuers of non-financial corporate debt financing instruments, corporate bonds (including corporate bonds), and financial bonds, respectively. Looking at the distribution of subject levels, the proportion of AA-level issuers was 25.51%, 38.74%, and 9.31%, respectively; the proportion of AA+ issuers was 70.54%, 51.47%, and 65.35%, respectively; and the proportion of issuers with no subject ratings was 1.47%, 2.86%, and 0.59%, respectively. There are 12,266 surviving local government bonds, with AAA accounting for 97.11%; the total number of surviving asset-backed securities is 9,684, with AA grade and above accounting for 44.53%.

(1) Bond ratings and entity rating acceptance volume declined month-on-month

In the first quarter, 15 rating agencies undertook a total of 2,609 bond products, down 4.92% from the previous quarter; a total of 2,200 underwriters rated them, down 21.06% from the previous quarter. Looking at branches, the top ranking was China Chengxin International and United Credit, which accounted for 33.92% and 20.9% of the business volume, respectively; followed by CCIC Pengyuan, Dongfang Jincheng, Shanghai New Century and Dagong International, which accounted for 13.02%, 12.19%, 6.07%, and 5.64% of the business volume, respectively; the rest of the rating agencies all accounted for less than 5% of the business volume.

(2) The number of rating adjusters declined month-on-month, with both positive and negative adjustments

In the first quarter, rating agencies made 19 rating adjustments to 15 issuers (Annex 1), a decrease of 36% over the previous quarter. There were 8 positive adjustments, all of which were upgraded by 1 sub-level. China Chengxin International raised the most number of companies, 4: Dagong International, United Credit, Shanghai New Century, and China Securities Pengyuan each.

Negative adjustments were made to 7 companies. Looking at branches, China Securities Pengyuan downgraded the most number of companies, with 4 downgradings; China Chengxin International and Joint Credit are downgraded by 2 and 1 respectively; judging from the magnitude, CSIC Pengyuan downgraded 1 issuer by 6 sub-levels three times during the quarter, and Lianhe Credit downgraded 1 issuer by 4 sub-levels twice during the quarter. The rest were downgraded by 1-2 sub-levels (Annex 2). Additionally, Joint Credit added 1 issuer to the watch list.

(3) The grade increase rate declined slightly from month to month after the rating agency was replaced

In the first quarter, 114 issuers changed rating agencies, a year-on-year decrease of 22, and a month-on-month decrease of 60. Among them, the ratings given by the new rating agencies for 8 issuers were higher than the original level, with an increase of 7.02%, an increase of 4.06 percentage points over the previous year, and a decrease of 0.41 percentage points over the previous year. Among them, S&P (China) raised 4 companies, accounting for 100% of the number of issuers that undertook to replace rating agencies; Anrong Rating, Antai Rating, Putsche Credit Rating, and Shanghai New Century each raised 1, accounting for 9.09%, 100%, and 16.67% of the number of issuers that undertook to replace rating agencies, respectively.

(4) The rate of inconsistency between the same issuer levels was basically the same from month to month

As of March 31, 2025, a total of 902 issuers in the exchange and interbank market received subject ratings issued by 2 or more rating agencies, accounting for 17.22% of the surviving bond issuers. Of these, 64 issuers had inconsistent rating results, with an inconsistent rate of 7.10%, up 0.68 percentage points from month to month. The inconsistent issuer ratings all had a difference of 1 sub-level. Among them, 11 issuers rated by China Chengxin International were higher than other institutions, accounting for 2.14%; Anrong Rating and S&P (China) had 10 companies, accounting for 27.03% and 47.62%, respectively; Dagong International had 9 companies, accounting for 4.15%; and Dongfang Jincheng and China Securities Pengyuan each had 7 companies, accounting for 2.15% and 2.15% respectively; Puxin Strategy and Shanghai New Century respectively, accounting for 2.15% and 2.15%, respectively 5%; 1 Yuandong Credit Company, accounting for 3.57%