CreditSights

About CreditSights

CreditSights is a New York-based independent credit research firm publishing fixed-income market news and analysis for institutional investors. Founded in September 2000 by former bankers Peter Petas and Glenn Reynolds, the firm was built on the principle of producing insightful, impartial research free from the conflicts of interest that taint sell-side bank research. CreditSights empowers more than 14,500 financial professionals at the world's largest institutions with credit-risk tools, independent research, and market insights covering the investment-grade and high-yield debt securities of issuers around the world. Its analysts publish more than 40 pieces of research daily across 35 industries, and its client roster includes the top global pension funds, mutual funds, bond underwriters, asset managers, and insurers. In 2021 the firm joined the Fitch Solutions family, becoming part of Fitch Group while maintaining its independent research identity. CreditSights celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2025.

Founding in 2000

CreditSights was founded in September 2000 in a New York City office by Peter Petas and Glenn Reynolds, former bankers who saw a clear market need: independent, objective credit research that could guide investors through the complexities of the bond markets. The founders started as a small team, initially just six people, with a big idea: that institutional customers knew the information provided by the sell side was tainted by conflicts of interest, and that a dedicated research firm with no underwriting or asset management business could win their trust. The firm's focus has never changed: independence is inscribed into the company DNA. CreditSights does not underwrite securities or manage assets; it supports and guides those who do. The dedication to research became the foundation of the firm's success, and the company grew from its handful of founders into a global research operation.

The independence principle

The core of CreditSights' identity is its independence. As a dedicated research firm, it has no investment banking division whose deals might color its analysis and no asset management arm whose positions might bias its recommendations. This structural separation is what allows the firm's analysts to publish unbiased insight, in the company's phrase, and it is the reason institutional investors turned to the firm as an alternative to bank research. The company's analysts have said they started the business knowing that institutional customers understood sell-side information was tainted, a frank assessment that became the firm's founding commercial logic. Annual subscriptions to the research cost $12,000 per individual user in the firm's early years, a price that bought freedom from conflicts: clients ranged from tiny firms managing less than $10 million to institutions with hundreds of billions in assets buying the research for entire departments.

Research coverage and output

CreditSights' research operation is built for scale and speed. The firm's analysts, numbering around 95 to more than 110 top-caliber professionals across Europe, Asia, and the United States, cover 35 industries across seven broad industry groups and six market sectors. The team publishes more than 40 pieces of research daily, making the firm an unparalleled source for idea generation around what is moving the credit markets. Coverage spans investment-grade and high-yield debt securities, with timely data, news, recommendations, and unbiased analysis delivered through the firm's web portal and mobile app. The research distills complex market noise into actionable intelligence, covering credit markets, sectors, and issuers with relative value recommendations across both investment grade and high yield. The firm's archive holds more than 500,000 articles, a quarter century of accumulated credit market intelligence.

Client base

CreditSights serves the institutions that manage the world's fixed income investments. Its institutional client portfolio includes 100 percent of the top 10 global pension funds, 100 percent of the top 20 mutual funds, 95 percent of the top 20 global corporate bond underwriters, 9 of the top 10 largest U.S. asset managers, and 8 of the top 10 life and property-and-casualty insurers. The firm empowers more than 14,500 financial professionals among the world's largest institutions, with some accounts estimating its reach at more than 50,000 clients across 30 countries. The client base spans the buy side and the sell side, law firms, corporates, and government entities, all relying on the firm's insights to manage risk and find opportunities. The breadth of the roster testifies to the firm's success in becoming essential infrastructure for the credit markets.

Joining Fitch Solutions

In 2021, CreditSights joined the Fitch Solutions family, with Fitch Group, the parent of the Fitch credit rating agency, acquiring the debt research company. The acquisition was part of a wave of consolidation among providers of financial information, and it added CreditSights to the Fitch Solutions arm alongside specialist services Covenant Review and LevFin Insights. The deal brought together the rating agency's credit analysis with CreditSights' independent research franchise, while the firm maintained its identity as an independent voice within the larger organization. For CreditSights, the acquisition provided scale and resources to deepen its global impact; for Fitch, it bolstered the group's debt research capabilities with a respected subscription research business reaching nearly 15,000 investors and analysts.

Covenant Review and LevFin Insights

Within the Fitch Solutions family, CreditSights operates alongside two specialist sister services that extend its credit market coverage. Covenant Review fields a premier team of more than 30 lawyers providing bond and loan covenant analysis, simplifying complex covenant language for investors who need to understand the legal terms governing their holdings. LevFin Insights deploys a team of 35 seasoned financial journalists breaking stories on global leveraged loans and high yield bonds, complemented by a robust primary market database. Together, CreditSights, Covenant Review, and LevFin Insights bring best-in-class research, covenant analysis, and news onto one platform with a unified interface and login. The combination gives clients a 360-degree view of the credit markets, from fundamental issuer analysis to legal documentation to breaking leveraged finance news.

Through market crises

CreditSights' 25-year history spans the most turbulent period in modern credit market history, and the firm guided clients through each of its defining moments. Founded just before the dot-com bubble burst, its analysts helped clients make sense of risk through the corporate failures of the early 2000s, the global financial crisis, the European sovereign debt turmoil, Brexit, and the COVID-19 pandemic. At the turn of the millennium, the U.S. investment-grade corporate bond market stood at $1.5 trillion, leveraged finance was in its infancy, and independent research was rare; the firm's growth paralleled the transformation of credit into a global, multi-trillion-dollar asset class. Through it all, the firm's promise remained unchanged: objective, in-depth credit analysis standing apart from conflicted sources. The analysts' ability to provide clarity in uncertain times became the firm's calling card across successive crises.

Global offices

From its New York beginnings, CreditSights expanded into a global research firm with offices in London, Singapore, and Denver alongside its headquarters at 2 Park Avenue in New York. The London office in Canary Wharf covers European credit markets, the Singapore office in Guoco Tower serves Asian clients, and the Denver office extends the firm's American footprint. The global analyst base allows the firm to cover issuers and markets around the clock, with researchers spanning Europe, Asia, and the United States. The expansion reflected the globalization of credit markets themselves: as investors allocated across borders and issuers tapped international bond markets, the demand for independent research followed. Each new office deepened the firm's local market expertise while feeding into its unified global research platform.

Website and 25th anniversary

CreditSights publishes at creditsights.com, where its research, data tools, and market insights are available to institutional subscribers. In 2025 the firm celebrated 25 years of independent credit research, marking the milestone with a look back at its journey from a bold idea in a New York City office to a global voice in credit markets. The anniversary communications emphasized the continuity of the firm's values: deep expertise, strong client partnerships, and an uncompromising commitment to independence and clarity. As part of Fitch Solutions, with its integrated platform of research, covenant analysis, and leveraged finance news, CreditSights continues its founding mission of producing insightful, impartial research that allows clients to make prudent, profitable investment decisions in the global credit markets.