DBRS Confirms Rating on Essence IV B.V.

DBRS Ratings Limited (DBRS) confirmed its rating on the Class A Notes issued by Essence IV B.V. (the Issuer) at AAA (sf).

The rating on the Class A Notes addresses the timely payment of interest and ultimate repayment of principal on or before the legal final maturity date.

The rating action follows an annual review of the transaction and is based on the following analytical considerations:

-- Portfolio performance, in terms of delinquencies, defaults and losses as of the April 2018 payment date.
-- Portfolio default rate (PD), loss given default (LGD) and expected loss assumptions on the remaining receivables.
-- Current available credit enhancement (CE) to the Class A Notes to cover the expected losses at the AAA (sf) rating level.

The Issuer is a securitisation of Dutch prime residential mortgages originated by NIBC Bank N.V. (NIBC) and its subsidiaries. The portfolio is serviced by NIBC, with Stater Nederland B.V., Quion Hypotheekbemiddeling B.V. and Quion Services B.V. assuming the role of sub-servicers. The transaction initially had a five-year revolving period which was terminated early by the Issuer on the September 2012 payment date.

PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCE
As of April 2018, two- to three-month arrears represented 0.1% of the outstanding portfolio balance, down from 0.4% in April 2017 and the 90+ delinquency ratio was 0.8%, stable since April 2017.

PORTFOLIO ASSUMPTIONS
DBRS conducted a loan-by-loan analysis of the remaining pool of receivables and has updated its base case PD and LGD assumptions to 2.3% and 15.11% from 2.2% and 16.1%, respectively.

CREDIT ENHANCEMENT
As of the April 2018 payment date, CE to the Class A Notes was 41.8%, up from 27.6% in April 2017 and consists of subordination of the Class B Notes and the Reserve Fund.

The Reserve Fund is currently at its target level of EUR 2,471,250 and is permitted to amortise under certain conditions. The structure also includes a liquidity reserve that covers senior fees and interest on the Class A Notes. The liquidity reserve is currently at its target level of EUR 421,524 and is also permitted to amortise.

ABN AMRO Bank N.V. acts as the account bank for the transaction. The account bank reference rating of AA (low) - being one notch below the DBRS public Long-Term Critical Obligations Rating of ABN AMRO Bank N.V. of AA - is consistent with the Minimum Institution Rating given the rating assigned to the Class A Notes, as described in DBRS's "Legal Criteria for European Structured Finance Transactions" methodology.

Notes:
All figures are in euros unless otherwise noted.

The principal methodology applicable to the rating is the “Master European Structured Finance Surveillance Methodology”. DBRS has applied the principal methodology consistently and conducted a review of the transaction in accordance with the principal methodology.

A review of the transaction legal documents was not conducted as the legal documents have remained unchanged since the most recent rating action.

Other methodologies referenced in this transaction are listed at the end of this press release. These may be found on www.dbrs.com at: http://www.dbrs.com/about/methodologies.

For a more detailed discussion of the sovereign risk impact on Structured Finance ratings, please refer to “Appendix C: The Impact of Sovereign Ratings on Other DBRS Credit Ratings” of the “Rating Sovereign Governments” methodology at: http://dbrs.com/research/319564/rating-sovereign-governments.pdf.

The sources of data and information used for this rating include investor reports provided by NIBC Bank NV, and loan-level data provided by the European DataWarehouse GmbH.

DBRS did not rely upon third-party due diligence in order to conduct its analysis. At the time of the initial rating, DBRS was not supplied with third-party assessments. However, this did not impact the rating analysis.

DBRS considers the data and information available to it for the purposes of providing this rating to be of satisfactory quality.

DBRS does not audit or independently verify the data or information it receives in connection with the rating process.

The last rating action on this transaction took place on 19 May 2017, when DBRS confirmed its rating of the Class A Notes at AAA (sf) following a methodology update on 24 April 2017.

Information regarding DBRS ratings, including definitions, policies and methodologies is available at www.dbrs.com.

To assess the impact of changing the transaction parameters on the rating, DBRS considered the following stress scenarios as compared with the parameters used to determine the rating (the “Base Case”):
-- DBRS expected a lifetime base case PD and LGD for the pool based on a review of the current assets. Adverse changes to asset performance may cause stresses to base case assumptions and therefore have a negative effect on credit ratings.
-- The base case PD and LGD of the current pool of loans for the Issuer are 2.3% and 15.1%, respectively.
-- The Risk Sensitivity overview below illustrates the ratings expected if the PD and LGD increase by a certain percentage over the base case assumption. For example, if the LGD increases by 50%, the rating of the Class A Notes would be expected to remain at AAA (sf), assuming no change in the PD. If the PD increases by 50%, the rating of the Class A Notes would be expected to remain at AAA (sf), assuming no change in the PD. Furthermore, if both the PD and LGD increase by 50%, the rating of the Class A Notes would be expected to remain at AAA (sf).

Class A Notes Risk Sensitivity:
-- 25% increase in LGD, expected rating of AAA (sf).
-- 50% increase in LGD, expected rating of AAA (sf).
-- 25% increase in PD, expected rating of AAA (sf).
-- 50% increase in PD, expected rating of AAA (sf).
-- 25% increase in PD and 25% increase in LGD, expected rating of AAA (sf).
-- 25% increase in PD and 50% increase in LGD, expected rating of AAA (sf).
-- 50% increase in PD and 25% increase in LGD, expected rating of AAA (sf).
-- 50% increase in PD and 50% increase in LGD, expected rating of AAA (sf).

For further information on DBRS historic default rates published by the European Securities and Markets Authority (“ESMA”) in a central repository, see:
http://cerep.esma.europa.eu/cerep-web/statistics/defaults.xhtml.

Ratings assigned by DBRS Ratings Limited are subject to EU and US regulations only.

Lead Analyst: Andrew Lynch, Assistant Vice President
Rating Committee Chair: Christian Aufsatz, Managing Director
Initial Rating Date: 1 March 2011

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The rating methodologies used in the analysis of this transaction can be found at: http://www.dbrs.com/about/methodologies.

-- Legal Criteria for European Structured Finance Transactions
-- Master European Structured Finance Surveillance Methodology
-- Operational Risk Assessment for European Structured Finance Servicers
-- European RMBS Insight Methodology -- European RMBS Insight: Dutch Addendum
-- Interest Rate Stresses for European Structured Finance Transactions

A description of how DBRS analyses structured finance transactions and how the methodologies are collectively applied can be found at: http://www.dbrs.com/research/278375.

For more information on this credit or on this industry, visit www.dbrs.com or contact us at info@dbrs.com.