Fitch Solutions
Fitch Solutions is a division of the Fitch group that has been created in the beginning of 2008. The Fitch group includes also Fitch Ratings, the rating agency, and Algorithmics Inc., the risk management software vendor and research firm. The Fitch group is majority-owned by Fimalac (From Wikipedia.fr: Fimalac), a French holding company.
Fitch Solutions has been created to capitalize on products and services produced by the Fitch group but also to enhance independence of the rating agency, following rating agencies criticism on the credit crunch. In this respect, Stephen W. Joynt - Chief executive officer of the Fitch group - declared in January 2009: "While we always have had strong convictions in our current practices and policies to protect the independence and integrity of our ratings, we believe it is clearer to have even greater separation of our analytical activities from our commercial activities" (see Reuters on the creation of Fitch Solutions).
Fitch Solutions focuses on the development of products and services including data, analytics and related services. Products include Fitch research delivery, risk and performance analytics, surveillance tools, structured finance workflow solutions, and pricing and valuation services. Examples include the Credit default swaps pricing service, the CDO pricing service, liquidity measures. Services include Advisory Services in valuation and risk management. Fitch Solutions and Algorithmics Inc. also host the quantitative research teams of the Fitch group.