Fitch gets permission to operate from China

BEIJING: Global rating agency Fitch Solutions has said China has allowed it to distribute credit ratings, data and research services in the country's mainland.

"We are pleased to be certified as one of 80 official foreign institutions providing financial information in China," head of Fitch Solutions Asia Pacific Oliver Putz said.

He said China is a leader in the $25-billion a year financial information services market.

China's Cabinet relaxed the regulation on foreign institutions' distribution of financial information services in October 2012.

China-based investors and market participants are increasingly hungry for real-time financial information, offering a ready market for Fitch Solutions' products such as credit research and ratings and quantitative risk and performance tools, state run Xinhua news agency quoted Putz as saying.

Fitch Solutions is a division of the Fitch Group. The division is also the distribution channel for Fitch Ratings content.