Fitch begins layoffs as debt issuance tapers off

Fitch Ratings yesterday said it has begun laying off employees, just days after its parent company said the ratings agency expected to cut 150 jobs, or about 7 per cent of its work force, by the end of its fiscal year in September.

Last week, Fimalac, Fitch's French parent company, reported first-quarter revenue at the ratings agency fell 9.1 per cent from the same period last year due to a drop in debt issuance. A Fitch spokesman, Huxley Somerville, said yesterday he could not detail how many people had lost their jobs so far and what areas of the rating agency were affected. The layoffs, which began late last week, occurred mostly in public and structured finance, according to a source familiar with the situation.