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The Fitch Group (technically, Fitch, Inc.) is a financial corporation whose divisions include Fitch Solutions, an advisory firm offering products and services to the financial industry, established in January 2008 partly following the criticism on Rating Agencies; Algorithmics Inc., the risk management software vendor and research firm; and Fitch Ratings, Ltd. Fitch Ratings is an international credit rating agency dual-headquartered in New York City and London. 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.
The firm was founded by John Knowles Fitch on December 24, 1913 in New York City as the Fitch Publishing Company. It merged with London-based IBCA Limited in December 1997, and is majority-owned by Fimalac (From the French Wikipedia: Fimalac), a French holding company. In 2000 Fitch acquired both Chicago-based Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Co. (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 the Fitch Group. Joynt also serves as Chief Executive Officer of Algorithmics, Inc. and as President and Chief Executive Officer of Fitch Ratings. (Wikipedia Jan 2010)