Fitch Ratings has kept Ally Financial Inc.'s Long-Term Issuer Default Rating at 'BBB-' and on Thursday moved the Rating Outlook to Positive from Stable. At the same time, Fitch upgraded Ally's risk profile one notch to 'bbb' from 'bbb-,' and changed the outlooks on its asset quality and capital and leverage scores to Positive from Stable.
According to Fitch, the Positive Outlook reflects expectations that Ally will continue to see gains in profitability, credit metrics and capital and leverage positions. The agency pointed to Ally's established franchise and leading U.S. auto finance market position as strengths, while underscoring that the company's ratings are still limited by a high concentration in auto finance - which accounts for 80% of its loans.
Since 2024, Ally has reoriented its business mix toward auto and corporate lending. The company divested personal loans and card portfolios and has initiated a run-off of its mortgage portfolio, steps that Fitch noted as part of Ally's strategic refocus on higher-priority businesses.
Fitch said Ally's credit indicators have improved following underwriting adjustments and a stabilization in vehicle prices that had been distorted during the pandemic and affected further by tariff impacts. The rating agency highlighted that Ally's leveraged and commercial real estate loan portfolios registered zero losses in 2025 and produced net recoveries in 2024.
Key profitability and capital measures showed recovery in 2025. Ally's ratio of operating profit to risk-weighted assets rose to 1.1% in 2025, up from 0.55% the previous year, as pressures from credit, net interest margin, expenses and insurance claims eased. The company's common equity tier 1 ratio improved to 8.3% at year-end 2025, from 7.1% at year-end 2024, as unrealized losses fell 29% to $2.8 billion, a development Fitch attributed to portfolio repositioning and lower interest rates. On a reported basis, Ally's CET1 ratio increased by 40 basis points year-over-year to 10.2%.
In December, Ally resumed modest share repurchases after its board approved an open-ended $2.0 billion buyback authorization, a move Fitch referenced in its assessment of the firm's capital actions.
Fitch also affirmed Ally's Funding & Liquidity score at 'bbb.' The agency noted that Ally's gross loans-to-deposits ratio has been steady at 90% since 2020, and that deposits have grown to represent 87% of funding, up from 75% before the pandemic. At year-end 2025 Ally had $9 billion of contingent liquidity available through unused Federal Home Loan Bank capacity and held $27 billion of pledged capacity at the Federal Reserve's discount window.
Sector implications - The rating action and accompanying commentary touch most directly on the bank and auto finance sectors. Improvements in Ally's credit quality and liquidity profile are relevant to investors tracking bank capital metrics and lenders exposed to vehicle finance.
What Fitch emphasized - Strengthening profitability and credit trends, portfolio repositioning that lowered unrealized losses, and sustained deposit growth alongside contingent liquidity sources were central to Fitch's decision to shift outlooks to Positive.