Fitch pulls coverage of monolines
New York credit rating agency Fitch Ratings has withdrawn coverage of the troubled monoline insurers Ambac and MBIA after they refused to continue co-operating with its analysts.
The agency said in a statement that the decision "follows decisions by MBIA and Ambac's managements to cease providing substantive non-public portfolio information used in Fitch's capital analysis model, to discontinue previous full interactive dialogue with Fitch analysts, and to request withdrawal of Fitch's ratings".
Fitch criticised the companies' "reactive strategic and capital management planning", adding that the recent downgrades from Standard & Poor's and Moody's made the prospects of the insurers uncertain. It could resume coverage based on publicly available information only, if investors requested it, Fitch added.
Ambac and MBIA have both requested Fitch to drop coverage - Ambac on June 18 and MBIA in March this year - after Fitch was the first of the agencies to downgrade the monolines from AAA. The other agencies followed suit earlier this month.
As of yesterday, Fitch rated both insurers A.
See also: Ambac, MBIA finally succumb to S&P downgrade, Moody's to follow suit
Going the wrong way
Crisis point
Dragged down
Only users who have a paid subscription or are part of a corporate subscription are able to print or copy content.
To access these options, along with all other subscription benefits, please contact info@risk.net or view our subscription options here: http://subscriptions.risk.net/subscribe
You are currently unable to print this content. Please contact info@risk.net to find out more.
You are currently unable to copy this content. Please contact info@risk.net to find out more.
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
As outlined in our terms and conditions, https://www.infopro-digital.com/terms-and-conditions/subscriptions/ (point 2.4), printing is limited to a single copy.
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@risk.net
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
You may share this content using our article tools. As outlined in our terms and conditions, https://www.infopro-digital.com/terms-and-conditions/subscriptions/ (clause 2.4), an Authorised User may only make one copy of the materials for their own personal use. You must also comply with the restrictions in clause 2.5.
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@risk.net
More on Risk management
Banks urged to boost third-party scrutiny amid AML crackdown
Three US regulators highlight deficiencies in banks’ due diligence on fintech partners
Clearing members welcome JSCC initial margin reforms
Stress loss add-ons touted as path to ensure defaulter pays and default fund contributions shrink
Backtesting correlated quantities
A technique to decorrelate samples and reach higher discriminatory power is presented
Could Trump presidency herald $27bn margin call on World Bank?
Think-tank’s policy plan to pull US out of multilateral threatens AAA rating, ending collateral exemption
Op risk data: Shady loans robbing Reliance of $1.1bn
Also: H20’s less-than-liquid holdings, Ripple ripped for $125m, and more WhatsApp slaps expected. Data by ORX News
Banks must close the loop on counterparty credit risk
Following a series of market and industry credit risk events, regulatory scrutiny of counterparty credit risk management practices is increasing. Now, more than ever, banks must ensure they are optimising their approaches to credit risk mitigation
Should banks risk lightning hitting twice for CrowdStrike?
Bank tech teams divided on whether to give security vendor a second chance after update crash
Risk management overhauls juggle speed and independence
Some banks say the 1.5 line of defence responds faster to risk, but supervisors are still divided