Rating Actions

Standard Rating Actions

Affirmed
The rating has been reviewed and no change has been deemed necessary.

Confirmed
Action taken in response to an external request or change in terms. Rating has been reviewed in either context, and no rating change has been deemed necessary.

Correction
Correction of rating publication error in a rating action commentary or correction of a rating data error in Fitch's ratings database.

Downgrade
The rating has been lowered in the scale.

Paid-In-Full
This tranche has reached maturity, regardless of whether it was amortized or called early. As the issue no longer exists, it is therefore no longer rated. Indicated in rating databases with the symbol "PIF".

Publish
Initial public announcement of rating on the agency's website, although not necessarily the first rating assigned. This action denotes when a previously private rating is published.

Rating Watch Maintained
The issue or issuer has been reviewed and remains on active Rating Watch status.

Rating Watch On
The issue or issuer has been placed on active Rating Watch status.

Revision Enhancement
Some form of the credit support affecting the rating opinion has been added, removed, or substituted.

Revision Implication Watch
The Rating Watch status has changed.

Revision Outlook
The Rating Outlook status has changed.

Upgrade
The rating has been raised in the scale.

Withdrawn
The rating has been withdrawn and the issue or issuer is no longer rated by Fitch Ratings. Indicated in rating databases with the symbol 'WD'.

Withdrawals

Numerous factors are considered by Fitch Ratings when reviewing a rating for withdrawal. An entity may cease to exist in the course of a merger process or following a bankruptcy. A rated transaction may be repaid in full. Information available to the agency may be insufficient to maintain a rating. This may occur where an issuer de-lists from a stock exchange, or where it ceases to cooperate with the agency and the balance of public disclosure is insufficient to support a rating. Finally, the agency may withdraw ratings where the level of market interest, sector coverage, or resource allocation leads the agency to discontinue analytical coverage.

With the exception of transactions that are repaid in full on schedule, all withdrawals of public ratings are disclosed in a rating action commentary, published on the agency's websites, and disseminated through the agency's electronic rating feeds. The withdrawal announcement will typically simply state the rating has been withdrawn, the level of the rating at withdrawal, the reason for the withdrawal, and that analytical coverage will cease.

Withdrawals cannot be used to forestall a rating action. Every effort is therefore made to ensure that the rating opinion upon withdrawal reflects an updated view. Where significant elements of uncertainty remain (for example, a rating for an entity subject to a takeover bid) or where information is otherwise insufficient to support a revised opinion, the agency attempts when possible to indicate in the withdrawal disclosure the likely direction and scale of any rating movement, had coverage been maintained.