Fitch Ratings Scale

Fitch Ratings Inc. in an international credit rating agency.

Together with Moody's and Standard & Poors, Fitch is one of the largest credit rating agencies in the world.

Fitch Rating was founded in 1913.

Credit rating agencies make risk assessments of financial instruments like:

• Government bonds
• Big corporations bonds
• Preferred stocks
• Mortgage backed instruments

Credit Ratings give an asessment to financial instruments. For example, an “investment grade” asset can have the following ratings:

1. AAA The highest rating.
2. AA
3. A
4. BBB

Fitch uses the symbols + and - to make smaller adjustment to it's ratings. For example, AA+ is better than AA.

A credit rating is an assessment of the financial capacity of an entity (corporation or government institution) to pay it's financial obligations. Common stocks do not constitute debt: they are not subject of credit ratings. Credit ratings apply to debt securities like bonds.

Credit ratings can be applied also to:

• Corporations
• National governments
• Financial institutions
• Insurance companies
• Municipalities

It is considered that an institution with a better rating (AAA) has a lower default risk than an institution with a worse rating (BBB).

Fitch ratings for selected countries:

• Light blue represent countries with good ratings
• Violet represents countries with ratings near to BBB
• Red represents countries with bad credit ratings (CCC)

Credit rating agencies Official Website