Summary

• • In 2025, MARC Ratings’ corporate portfolio recorded minimal rating migration compared to the preceding year, with only three upgrades and no downgrades or defaults. This stability was supported by the resilient economy and accommodative policy rate amid heightened uncertainties. Subsequently, the downgrade-to-upgrade ratio improved to 0.0x, compared to the prior year at 1.5x, which was driven by six downgrades and four upgrades. This improvement was further reflected in overall credit quality, where the rating drift rebounded to 3.0% (2024: -2.0%).
  • This year marked the third consecutive year of no default, sustaining the long-term average default rate at 1.6% between 2000 and 2025 (2000-2024: 1.6%). Going forward, default rates are expected to remain low, supported by a limited number of issuers positioned at the lower end of the rating spectrum, and fewer negative rating outlooks.
  • Overall, this minimal rating migration led to an increase in MARC Ratings’ ratings stability rate to 97.0% from last year’s figure of 89.8%. The dominance of high-grade issuers helped to maintain the stability, lifting the long-term average ratings stability slightly to 88.3% (2000–2025) from 87.9% 2000-2024.
  • Ratings accuracy improved in 2025 as no default has been recorded since the last default in 2022, which originated from the C rating category. Over the long term (1998–2025), the ratings accuracy ratio stood at 76.6%, marginally higher than the 75.6% recorded during the 1998–2024 period.