Greetings,
I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to Fitch Ratings.
The role of a rating agency is to gather and analyze a variety of financial, industry, market and economic information, synthesize that information, and publish independent, credible assessments of the creditworthiness of securities and issuers, thereby providing a convenient way for investors to judge the credit quality of various alternative investment options.
Simply put, ratings are a credit opinion. Building confidence in an opinion, and in a rating agency, is difficult to win, and easy to lose.
Confidence in Fitch arises from our commitment to provide the world's securities markets with objective, timely, independent and forward-looking credit opinions. The foundation of meeting that commitment is rooted in several core principles — objectivity, independence, integrity and transparency. Our commitment is to all fixed-income market participants; investors and issuers alike.
It is this commitment, along with widespread coverage across the fixed income universe and the proven track record of our ratings, which has led Fitch Ratings to be globally recognized by investors, index providers and regulators.
Issuers choose Fitch Ratings because our independent research and ratings heighten investor awareness, raise the liquidity of the issuer's securities and reduce the cost of funds. In corporate finance ratings, academic research demonstrates that adding ratings from three credible and recognized global agencies increases market value and improves an issuer's overall cost of funding.
I am pleased that you are taking this opportunity to learn more about Fitch Ratings, and encourage you to continue spending time at our website, www.fitchratings.com, where you can fully experience Fitch and learn why the fixed-income markets rely on us.
Sincerely,
Stephen Joynt
President and Chief Executive Officer
Fitch Ratings