The CDO notching rating brouhaha between Fitch Ratings, Moody's Investors Service, Standard & Poor's may not be impacting the CMBS market as much as some expected.
In its monthly real estate round up, Fitch noted commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) were less attractive to collateralized debt obligation (CDO) investors due to the narrowing spread gap between CMBS and CDOs. Thus, the rating agency determined that the impact of notching in the market has been moderated and is not a "major factor in the current market."
However, Fitch continued to call the practices of Moody's and S&P "anticompetitive" and reaffirmed its policy of, essentially, not hitting back. Fitch no longer relies on "across the board" notching of other agencies' ratings or a minimum percentage of Fitch-rated collateral, a policy it adopted mid-summer.
