This just out from Fitch:
Fitch Issues Statement on Ambac Withdrawal Request
18 Jun 2008 1:02 PM (EDT)
Fitch Ratings-New York-18 June 2008: Fitch Ratings today received a request from Ambac Financial Group, Inc. requesting that Fitch withdraw all of its ratings on Ambac and its subsidiaries and is considering the request.
Fitch was the first of three ratings agencies to cut Ambac’s triple-A rating, downgrading the bond insurer to double-A back in January. It has also been engaged in a testy exchange with MBIA, which asked Fitch to withdraw its ratings back in March.
CEO Stephen Joynt responded to his counterparty at MBIA - Jay Brown - in a strongly-worded letter, saying, among other things:
I believe that the best way forward for MBIA to reestablish the value of its products in the market is to make more information available to more rating agencies rather than just aligning MBIA with Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s.
Here’s Ambac’s rather terse statement:
Our decision to refocus and realign our business around our core expertise in the public finance and infrastructure sectors has led us to re-evaluate our ratings needs. As part of this review, we have asked Fitch to remove its ratings on Ambac and all its subsidiaries effective immediately.
Translation: You’re fired, Fitch.
This ought to get interesting.
Related links:
Fitch downgrades MBIA - FT Alphaville
Ditching Fitch - FT Alphaville
Ditching Fitch, II - FT Alphaville
