Fitch Teleconference: Equity Piece Risk Disclosure, Today @ 10:15AM ET

LONDON & NEW YORK--(Business Wire)--
Fitch Ratings will host a teleconference this morning at
15:15BST/10:15EDT to discuss the agency's proposals to increase
transparency regarding the retention of the economic risk of the
equity piece in Fitch-rated structured finance transactions.

On 24 June, Fitch announced that it is seeking comments regarding
its proposals to invite transaction originators, sponsors, servicers
and asset managers to disclose whether they retain the economic risk
of the equity piece (or first loss piece) in Fitch-rated structured
finance transactions in which they are a transaction party.

'In making this proposal, Fitch is not advocating retaining the
risk as a preferable model over it being transferred to a third party.
Indeed, there are clear potential conflicts of interest that arise
when the equity risk is either retained or not retained that could
adversely impact bond performance for noteholders. For this reason,
Fitch does not currently make specific analytical adjustments with
respect to retention or non-retention,' says Stuart Jennings, EMEA
Structured Finance Risk Officer at Fitch. 'The intention of the
initiative is to allow for more disclosure and information such that
investors can make an informed decision and form their own view on
whether this issue impacts their investment decisions and assessment
of performance.'

An exposure draft outlining the proposal in more detail, entitled
'Retaining Equity Piece Risk - Enhancing Transparency', is available
on the agency's website, www.fitchratings.com.

The agency is seeking feedback regarding its proposal. Any
comments should be sent to sffeedback@fitchratings.com by 1 August
2008.

Participants can email questions prior to the call to
rachel.cros@fitchratings.com.

To listen to the call, participants should dial one of the
following numbers:

UK/Europe: +44 (0) 1452 555 566 UK Toll

US: +1 866 966 9439 USA Toll Free

Conference ID: 56924780

Replay (available two hours after the end of call and until
midnight on 24 July 2008):

International: +44 (0) 1452 550 000 (UK Toll)

US Toll Free: 1 866 247 4222

Australia Toll Free: 1 800 613 774

Hong Kong Toll Free: 8009 013 93

Singapore Toll Free: 8004 411 242

Passcode: 56924780#

A replay of the call will also be available on the Fitch website,
www.fitchratings.com, under Resource Library/Teleconferences/Events.

Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings
are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com.
Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this
site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality,
conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other
relevant policies and procedures are also available from the 'Code of
Conduct' section of this site.

Fitch Ratings
Karen Skinner, +44 20 7417 6274 (London)
Stuart Jennings, +44 20 7417 6271
Glenn Costello, 212-908-0307 (New York)
Marjan van der Weijden, +65 6796 7226 (Singapore)
Media Relations:
Julian Dennison, +44 020 7682 7480 (London)
Sandro Scenga, 212-908-0278 (New York)

Copyright Business Wire 2008