Mortgage Insurer Radian No Longer Graded by Fitch
Due to a lack of available information to maintain credible ratings after management stopped providing it detailed, non-public portfolio information, Fitch Ratings withdrew its grades on mortgage insurer Radian Group Inc.
However, the ratings agency stated that it will continue to monitor investor interest in its coverage and "may consider reviewing its methodologies and modeling approach to explore ways" to provide credible ratings based solely on public information. That indicates Fitch is considering a significant departure from the way it traditionally has maintained its corporate credit ratings.
The move follows a September request by Radian that the ratings agency drop its ratings following a downgrade of its financial-guaranty subsidiaries. Fitch said that after it made the request, Radian stopped providing Fitch the detailed, non-public portfolio information it needed.
Initially following Radian's request, Fitch had said it would maintain ratings coverage on the company "due to investor interest," though it said if it believed it no longer had access to adequate information "to credibly maintain the ratings," it would withdraw them regardless of investor interest.
Published on May 2, 2008
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