Fitch Ratings said Friday it hired Eric Friedland, director of municipal credit research at Belle Haven Investments, as group credit officer for its U.S. public finance group.
Friedland, 46, will be a managing director at Fitch and oversee the public finance group's rating criteria and credit policy.
Before joining Belle Haven, Friedland worked at Financial Security Assurance for 15 years, including a stint as director in the public finance group.
"Eric's broad and deep municipal market experience will be a true asset for the public finance team," said Richard Raphael, executive managing director of the U.S. public finance group. "We expect credit conditions to remain challenging in the public finance market and Eric's role will be crucial in ensuring that Fitch's credit analysis considers the wide variety of risks facing the market."
A Chartered Financial Analyst charterholder, Friedland is former chairman of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts. He is on the board of the Municipal Analysts Group of New York.
