Ian Linnell

Ian Linnell is President of Fitch Ratings. Appointed in February 2017, he is responsible for the company’s analytical, commercial and operational activities. With more than 20 years of credit analysis and management experience at Fitch, Mr. Linnell leads the firm’s focus on producing high-quality credit ratings, research and analysis.

Prior to his current role, Mr. Linnell was Global Analytical head, overseeing ratings and research for all sectors including Corporate Finance, Financial Institutions, Structured Finance & Covered Bonds, Sovereigns, U.S. Public Finance and Global Infrastructure and Project Finance. In that capacity he was also responsible for Fitch's Global Operations group.

Previously Mr. Linnell was Global Head of Structured Finance & Covered Bonds, leading the group that provides credit ratings and research on asset-backed securities, covered bonds, residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities and structured credit. Mr. Linnell has held numerous analytical roles at Fitch, including Head of EMEA Banks and Global Head of Credit Policy, where he expanded the group beyond the Americas to cover all other regions.

He joined Fitch in 1997 as a regional director in Financial Institutions, with responsibility for rating, analyzing and developing company criteria for Scandinavia, Switzerland and major UK financial institutions.

Prior to joining Fitch, Mr. Linnell spent five years as an analyst with Standard & Poor's. Earlier, he was an economist and a banking supervisor for the Bank of England.

Mr. Linnell earned a BA in economics from Newcastle Upon Tyne University.