Fitch Ratings has launched the Ratings Navigator for Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NBFIs) – a visual overview of all the factors affecting an NBFI's standalone rating, their relative importance and likely direction of movement.
"Ratings Navigator is a transparent look at our analytical approach for NBFIs that presents the relative importance of each rating factor in determining the final NBFI ratings and the potential rating sensitivities," says Nathan Flanders (pictured), head of North American non-bank financial institutions, Fitch Ratings.
A key part of Fitch's own internal rating process, Ratings Navigator is fully aligned with Fitch's published criteria and articulates the qualitative and quantitative factors which combine to form the overall Issuer Default Rating.
The Rating Navigator is not a quantitative model, but the tool provides an analytical framework to explain rating decisions as opposed to determining or implying a rating directly.
Fitch offers coverage of NBFIs in over 57 countries and across five broad sub-sectors: finance and leasing companies, investment managers, securities firms, business development companies and financial market infrastructure companies.
