MBIA Asks Fitch to Drop Ratings

The financial guarantor, which has been under pressure to raise capital from ratings agencies, gave no reason for the request.
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Financial guarantor

MBIA

(MBI) - Get Report

on late Friday asked Fitch Ratings to stop rating its financial strength.

In a press release announcing the news, the Armonk, N.Y.-based company did not give a reason for why it made the request to Fitch, one of the three major rating agencies. Fitch, Moody's Investor Service and Standard & Poor's all have pristine triple-A ratings on MBIA, a critical mark for the guarantor to be able to earn new business.

The action comes a week after Moody's and Standard & Poor's reaffirmed their ratings for MBIA, after the company raised $2.6 billion and took other measures to shore up its capital base. The rating agencies have pressed the company and rivals like

Ambac Financial

(ABK)

to increase their reserves to cover potential defaults on the debt they insure.

With its ratings reaffirmed, MBIA is looking to pick up market share as its rivals struggle, CEO Jay Brown

told TheStreet.com

this week.

This article was written by a staff member of TheStreet.com.