Fitch piles on rating pressure

Covered bonds came under further rating pressure on Wednesday after Fitch said a quarter of the deals it rates could be downgraded by up to two notches under new tougher rules. Fitch plans to tighten its Covered Bonds Rating Criteria to reflect its view of “systemic risk and cover pool liquidity”, it said. This followed Moody’s sweeping downgrades of Italian covered bonds this week.