Bangkok--2 Jun--Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings with immediate effect will be publishing Rating Outlooks on all Asia Pacific structured finance (SF) bonds. The agency will roll out the Rating Outlooks concurrently with rating actions for each transaction going forward, including at the assignment of expected and final ratings. "Fitch is introducing its Rating Outlooks in Asia Pacific to expand its provision of forward-looking information about the likely direction of future rating changes," said Marjan van der Weijden, Managing Director and head of Asia Pacific Structured Finance. "Outlooks will be assigned at tranche level and will reflect not only Fitch's expectations of the future performance of an individual deal, but will also take into account likely sector and economic developments that may affect the collateral," added Ms. van der Weijden. An Outlook indicates the likely direction of any rating change over a one-to-two-year period. Rating Outlooks may be Positive, Negative, Stable or, occasionally, Evolving and will be applied at the individual tranche level. Rating Outlooks will be assigned to international as well as domestic ratings. Newly rated tranches are expected to be assigned a Stable Outlook, unless there are specific circumstances, for example, credit linkage to a counterparty with a Negative Outlook. Rating Outlooks have been in place for global corporate, financial institutions, sovereign and municipal issuers for many years. Fitch introduced Rating Outlooks to European SF transactions in June 2007 to asset-backed securities (ABS), commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) and residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) transactions, and has recently announced plans to expand Rating Outlooks to US SF transactions from the second half of 2008. Contact: Marjan van der Weijden, Singapore, +65 6796 7226; Alison Ho, Hong Kong, +852 2263 9937. Media Relations: Shivani Sundralingam, Singapore, Tel: + 65 6796 7215. 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. 101 Finsbury Pavement, London, EC2A 1RS