The Ratings Navigator is a visual summary of Fitch’s Global Financial Institutions Rating Criteria. Quantitative data, such as financial and risk metrics, adds context and helps to explain ratings as opposed to determining or implying a rating directly.

The dashboard-style tool aims to replicate the analytical thought process and present a bank’s key rating drivers, strengths and weaknesses in a standardised format. The representation also provides clarity over the combination of different components of Fitch’s unique bank rating methodology (viability rating and support), see example below.

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The Financial Institutions Rating Framework

The analytical components of the Ratings Navigator comprise a mix of qualitative and quantitative assessments which combine to form the overall Viability Rating assessment. This is complemented by a qualitative assessment of factors that drive an analysis of support to produce an IDR that will typically reflect the ‘higher of’ approach articulated in the rating criteria. The rating framework is depicted in the rating columns (Viability/Support/IDR) which indicate how each has been assessed and typically the IDR is presented as the higher of the Viability or Support assessment.

“We are frequently asked to explain the various constituents of a bank’s rating,” says David Weinfurter, Global Head of Financial Institutions at Fitch Ratings. “Fitch’s Ratings Navigator shows the factors behind the rating and includes a robust peer comparison that greatly enhances the value of our ratings and research. This is the first time this level of analysis has been available in such a clear, concise and easily comparable visual format.”