RD:
Restricted Default
—“RD” ratings indicate an issuer that in Fitch's opinion has experienced an uncured payment default on a bond, loan or other material financial obligation but which has
not entered into bankruptcy filings, administration, receivership, liquidation or other formal winding-up procedure, and which has not otherwise ceased operating. This would include: (a) the selective payment default
on a specific class or currency of debt; (b) the uncured expiry of any applicable grace period, cure period or default forbearance period following a payment default on a bank loan, capital markets security or other
material financial obligation; (c) the extension of multiple waivers or forbearance periods upon a payment default on one or more material financial obligations, either in series or in parallel; or (d) execution of a
distressed debt exchange on one or more material financial obligations.
D: Default
—“D” ratings indicate an issuer that in Fitch's opinion has entered into bankruptcy filings, administration, receivership, liquidation or other formal winding-up
procedure, or which has otherwise ceased business.
Default
ratings are not assigned prospectively to entities or their obligations; within this context, non-payment on an instrument that contains a deferral feature or grace period will generally not be considered a default
until after the expiration of the deferral or grace period, unless a default is otherwise driven by bankruptcy or other similar circumstance, or by a distressed debt exchange.
“Imminent” default typically refers to
the occasion where a payment default has been intimated by the issuer, and is all but inevitable. This may, for example, be where an issuer has missed a scheduled payment, but (as is typical) has a grace period during
which it may cure the payment default. Another alternative would be where an issuer has formally announced a distressed debt exchange, but the date of the exchange still lies several days or weeks in the immediate
future.
In all
cases, the assignment of a default rating reflects the agency's opinion as to the most appropriate rating category consistent with the rest of its universe of ratings, and may differ from the definition of default
under the terms of an issuer's financial obligations or local commercial practice.
FITCH SHORT-TERM DEBT RATINGs
A Fitch
short-term issuer or obligation rating is based in all cases on the short-term vulnerability to default of the rated entity or security stream and relates to the capacity to meet financial obligations in accordance
with the documentation governing the relevant obligation. Short-Term Ratings are assigned to obligations whose initial maturity is viewed as “short-term” based on market convention. Typically, this means
up to 13 months for corporate, sovereign, and structured obligations, and up to 36 months for obligations in U.S. public finance markets.
F1: Highest Short-Term Credit
Quality
—Indicates the strongest intrinsic capacity for timely payment of financial commitments; may have an added “+”
to denote any exceptionally strong credit feature.
F2: Good Short-Term Credit
Quality
—Good intrinsic capacity for timely payment of financial commitments.
F3: Fair Short-Term Credit
Quality
—The intrinsic capacity for timely payment of financial commitments is adequate.
B: Speculative Short-Term
Credit Quality
—Minimal capacity for timely payment of financial commitments, plus heightened vulnerability to near-term adverse changes in financial and economic conditions.
C: High Short-Term Default
Risk
—Default is a real possibility.
RD: Restricted
Default
—Indicates an entity that has defaulted on one or more of its financial commitments, although it continues to meet other financial obligations. Applicable to entity ratings
only.
D: Default
—Indicates a broad-based default event for an entity, or the default of a short-term obligation.
A.M. BEST Company, Inc. (a.m.
best) LONG-TERM DEBT and Preferred Stock RATINGS
A
Best's long-term debt rating is Best's independent opinion of an issuer/entity's ability to meet its ongoing financial obligations to security holders when due.
aaa: Exceptional
—Assigned to issues where the issuer has an exceptional ability to meet the terms of the obligation.
aa: Very Strong
—Assigned to issues where the issuer has a very strong ability to meet the terms of the obligation.
a: Strong
—Assigned to issues where the issuer has a strong ability to meet the terms of the obligation.
bbb: Adequate
—Assigned to issues where the issuer has an adequate ability to meet the terms of the obligation; however, the issue is more susceptible to changes in economic or other
conditions.
bb: Speculative
—Assigned to issues where the issuer has speculative credit characteristics, generally due to a modest margin or principal and interest payment protection and vulnerability to
economic changes.
b: Very Speculative
—Assigned to issues where the issuer has very speculative credit characteristics, generally due to a modest margin of principal and interest payment protection and extreme
vulnerability to economic changes.
ccc, cc, c: Extremely
Speculative
—Assigned to issues where the issuer has extremely speculative credit characteristics, generally due to a minimal margin of principal and interest payment protection and/or limited
ability to withstand adverse changes in economic or other conditions.