Fitch Ratings

Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates {{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template other Template:Main other{{#invoke:Check for clobbered parameters|check|nested=1|template=Infobox company|cat=Template:Main other|name; company_name|logo; company_logo|logo_alt; alt|trade_name; trading_name|former_names; former_name|type; company_type|predecessors; predecessor|successors; successor|foundation; founded|founders; founder|defunct; dissolved|hq_location; location|hq_location_city; location_city|hq_location_country; location_country|num_locations; locations|areas_served; area_served|net_income; profit|net_income_year; profit_year|owners; owner |homepage; website }}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox company with unknown parameter "_VALUE_" | ignoreblank=y | alt | area_served | areas_served | assets | assets_year | aum | brands | company_logo | company_name | company_type | defunct | dissolved | divisions | embed | equity | equity_year | fate | footnotes | former_name | former_names | foundation | founded | founder | founders | genre | homepage | hq_location | hq_location_city | hq_location_country | incorporated | image | image_alt | image_caption | image_size | image_upright | income_year | industry | ISIN | key_people | location | location_city | location_country | locations | logo | logo_alt | logo_caption | logo_class | logo_size | logo_upright | members | members_year | module | name | native_name | native_name_lang | net_income | net_income_year | num_employees | num_employees_year | num_locations | num_locations_year | operating_income | owner | owners | parent | predecessor | predecessors | production | production_year | products | profit | profit_year | rating | ratio | revenue | revenue_year | romanized_name | services | subsid | successor | successors | traded_as | trade_name | trading_name | type | website| qid | fetchwikidata | suppressfields | noicon | nocat | demo | categories }} Fitch Ratings Inc. is an American credit rating agency. It is one of the three nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (NRSRO) designated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and is considered as being one of the "Big Three credit rating agencies",<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> along with Moody's and Standard & Poor's.

HistoryEdit

Fitch Ratings is dual headquartered in New York and London.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Hearst owns 100 percent of the company following its acquisition of an additional 20 percent for $2.8 billion on April 12, 2018.<ref name="Hearst press release">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Hearst had owned 80 percent of the company after increasing its ownership stake by 30 percent on December 12, 2014, in a transaction valued at $1.965 billion. Hearst's previous equity interest was 80 percent following expansions on an original acquisition of 20 percent interest in 2006.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Hearst had jointly owned Fitch with FIMALAC SA, which held 20 percent of the company until the 2018 transaction. Fitch Ratings and Fitch Solutions are part of the Fitch Group.

The firm was founded by John Knowles Fitch on December 24, 1914, in New York City as the Fitch Publishing Company. In 1989, the company was acquired by a group including Robert Van Kampen.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1997, Fitch was acquired by FIMALAC and was merged with London-based IBCA Limited, a FIMALAC subsidiary.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2000, Fitch acquired both Chicago-based Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Co. (April)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Thomson Financial BankWatch (December).

Fitch Ratings is the third largest NRSRO rating agency, covering a more limited 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 the other two agencies have ratings similar, but not equal, in scale.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In September 2011, Fitch Group announced the sale of Algorithmics (risk analytics software) to IBM for $387 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In June 2022, Fitch Group acquired GeoQuant, an AI-driven data and technology company.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

OperationsEdit

Fitch Ratings is a subsidiary of Fitch Group, a holding company wholly owned by Hearst Communications.<ref name=Hufford>Template:Cite news</ref> Fitch Group also operates Fitch Solutions, a distribution channel for Fitch Ratings products and a provider of credit market data and financial analytics.<ref name=Garcia>Template:Cite book</ref> Fitch Group employs approximately 5,000 people, including over 1,600 analysts.<ref name=FitchGroupHistoryQuote>Template:Cite website</ref> Paul Taylor is president and chief executive officer of Fitch Group.<ref name=Partington>Template:Cite news</ref> Fitch Ratings is registered as a nationally recognized statistical rating organization (NRSRO).<ref name=White>Template:Cite journal</ref> The firm has more than 2,400 employees.<ref name=AboutUs>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Ian Linnell is president of Fitch Ratings.<ref name=Leadership>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

CriticismEdit

Template:See also The main credit rating agencies, including Fitch, were accused of misrepresenting the risks associated with mortgage-related securities, which included the collateralized debt obligation (CDO) market. There were large losses in the CDO market that occurred despite being assigned top ratings by the CRAs.

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.<ref name="cdo">Template:Citation</ref> However, differently from the other agencies, Fitch was warning the market on the constant proportion debt obligations (CPDO) with an early and pre-crisis report highlighting the dangers of CPDOs in 2007.<ref name="cpdo">Template:Citation</ref>

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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