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Fitch Ratings, Ltd. is an international credit rating agency dual-headquartered in New York City and London. A credit rating agency ( CRA) is a company that assigns Credit ratings for Issuers of certain types of Debt obligations as well as the debt instruments The City of New York London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. 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 Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (or "NRSRO" is a Credit rating agency which issues credit ratings that the U The US Securities and Exchange Commission (commonly known as the SEC) is an independent agency of the United States government which holds primary responsibility Year 1975 ( MCMLXXV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Moody's Corporation ( is the holding company for Moody's Investors Service which performs financial research and analysis on commercial and government entities Standard & Poor's ( S&P) is a division of McGraw-Hill that publishes financial research and analysison Stocks and bonds.

The firm was founded by John Knowles Fitch on December 24, 1913 in New York City as the Fitch Publishing Company. John Knowles Fitch ( February 15 1880 &ndash May 1943 was the founder of the Fitch Publishing Company, and developed a Financial securities Events 563 - The Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is dedicated for the second time after being destroyed by Earthquakes Year 1913 ( MCMXIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The City of New York It merged with London-based IBCA Limited in December 1997, and is majority-owned by Fimalac (From Wikipedia. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. fr: Fimalac), a French holding company. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. In 2000 Fitch acquired both Chicago, Illinois-based Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Co. 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. (April) and Thomson BankWatch (December). Fitch is the smallest of the "big 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.

Contents

Long-Term Credit Ratings

Fitch's long-term credit ratings are set up along a scale from 'AAA' to 'D', first introduced in 1924 and later adopted and licensed by S&P. Moody's also uses a similar scale, but names the categories differently. Like S&P, Fitch also uses intermediate modifiers for each category between AA and CCC (i. e. , AA+, AA, AA-, A+, A, A-, BBB+, BBB, BBB- etc. ).

Investment Grade

Non-Investment Grade (also known as junk bonds)

Short-Term Credit Ratings

Fitch's short-term ratings indicate the potential level of default within a 12-month period. In Finance, a high yield bond ( non-investment grade bond, speculative grade bond or junk bond) is a bond that is rated below

Criticism

See also: Credit rating agency#Criticism

Credit rating agencies such as Fitch have been subject to criticism in the wake of large losses in the collateralized debt obligation (CDO) market that occurred despite being assigned top ratings by the CRAs. A credit rating agency ( CRA) is a company that assigns Credit ratings for Issuers of certain types of Debt obligations as well as the debt instruments A credit rating agency ( CRA) is a company that assigns Credit ratings for Issuers of certain types of Debt obligations as well as the debt instruments For other subjects with the same abbreviation see CDO. Collateralized debt obligations (CDOs are an unregulated type of Asset-backed security For instance, losses on $340. 7 million worth of collateralized debt obligations (CDO) issued by Credit Suisse Group added up to about $125 million, despite being rated AAA by Fitch. The Credit Suisse Group () is a Financial services company headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. [1]

References

  1. ^ Tomlinson, Richard & Evans, David (2007-06-01), “CDOs mask huge subprime losses, abetted by credit rating agencies”, International Herald Tribune, <http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/31/bloomberg/bxinvest.php> 

See also

External links

Standard & Poor's ( S&P) is a division of McGraw-Hill that publishes financial research and analysison Stocks and bonds. Moody's Corporation ( is the holding company for Moody's Investors Service which performs financial research and analysis on commercial and government entities A M Best Company Inc, headquartered in Oldwick New Jersey, is Rating agency designated as an Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization DBRS is a credit rating agency headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. A Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (or "NRSRO" is a Credit rating agency which issues credit ratings that the U This article is primarily about Reuters prior to its 2008 merger with Thomson Bloomberg LP is a financial software services news and data company Morningstar Inc ( is an investment research company based in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
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