Fitch Ratings
Fitch Ratings, Ltd. is an international
credit rating agency dual-headquartered in
New York City and
London. It was one of the three
Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations (NRSRO) designated by the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in
1975, together with
Moody's and
Standard & Poor's.
A.M. Best and
Dominion Bond Ratings Service have subsequently joined those three as NRSROs.
The firm was founded by
John Knowles Fitch on
December 24,
1913 in
New York City as the
Fitch Publishing Company. It merged with
London-based IBCA Limited in December 1997, and is majority-owned by
Fimalac, a
Paris,
France-based holding company. In
2000 Fitch acquired both
Chicago, Illinois-based
Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Co. (April) and
Thomson BankWatch (December). Fitch has been the smallest of the three NRSROs, covering a smaller share of the market than S&P and Moody's, though it has grown with acquisitions and frequently positions itself as a "tie-breaker" when those other two agencies have ratings similar, but not equal, in scale.
Stephen W. Joynt is Chief Executive Officer of Fitch Group, Inc., the parent company of Fitch Ratings, Algorithmics and Fitch Training. Joynt also serves as Chief Executive Officer of Algorithmics, Inc. and as President and Chief Executive Officer of Fitch Ratings.
Fitch's long-term credit ratings are set up along a scale almost identical to that used by S&P. Moody's also uses a similar scale, but names the categories differently. Like S&P, Fitch also uses intermediate ratings for each category between AA and CCC (i.e., AA+, AA, AA-, A+, A, A-, BBB+, BBB, BBB- etc.).
Investment Grade*
AAA : the best quality companies, reliable and stable
*
AA : quality companies, a bit higher risk than AAA
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A : economic situation can affect finance
*
BBB : medium class companies, which are satisfactory at the moment
Non-Investment Grade (also known as
junk bonds)
*
BB : more prone to changes in the economy
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B : financial situation varies noticeably
*
CCC : currently vulnerable and dependent on favorable economic conditions to meet its commitments
*
CC : highly vulnerable, very speculative bonds
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C : highly vulnerable, perhaps in bankruptcy or in arrears but still continuing to pay out on obligations
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D : has defaulted on obligations and Fitch believes that it will generally default on most or all obligations
*
NR : not rated
Fitch's short-term ratings indicate the potential level of default within a 12-month period. A "+" or "-" may be appended to the F1 rating to denote relative status within the category.
*
F1 : best quality grade, indicating strong capacity of obligor to meet its financial commitment
*
F2 : good quality grade with satisfactory capacity of obligor to meet its financial commitment
*
F3 : fair quality grade with adequate capacity of obligor to meet its financial commitment but near term adverse conditions could impact the obligor's commitments
*
B : of speculative nature and obligor has minimal capacity to meet its commitment and vulnerability to short term adverse changes in financial and economic conditions
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C : possibility of default is high and the financial commitment of the obligor are dependent upon sustained, favourable business and economic conditions
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D : the obligor is in default as it has failed on its financial commitments.
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Fitch Ratings*
Credit Raters Exert International Influence (washingtonpost.com)*
RSS Feed of Most Recent Fitch Press Releases*
RSS Feed of Most Recent Fitch Reports*
U.S. Credit: Fitch Ratings
