DBRS Confirms Ratings of Notes Issued by SCL – Scandinavian Consumer Loans VI

DBRS Ratings Limited (DBRS) confirmed its ratings of the notes issued by SCL – Scandinavian Consumer Loans VI (SCL VI) as follows:

-- Class A Floating-Rate Notes (Class A Notes) confirmed at AAA (sf)
-- Class B Floating-Rate Notes (Class B Notes) confirmed at AA (low) (sf)
-- Class C Floating-Rate Notes (Class C Notes) confirmed at A (sf)
-- Class D Floating-Rate Notes (Class D Notes) confirmed at BBB (sf)

The ratings of all the Class A and Class B Notes address the timely payment of interest and ultimate payment of principal on or before the legal final maturity date. The ratings of the Class C and Class D Notes address the ultimate payment of interest and principal on or before the legal final maturity date.

The confirmations follow an annual review of the transaction and are based on the following analytical considerations:

-- Portfolio performance, in terms of delinquencies and defaults.
-- Probability of default (PD), loss given default (LGD) and expected losses on the remaining receivables.
-- The current credit enhancement (CE) available to the notes to cover the expected losses at the respective (sf) rating level.
-- No revolving termination has occurred.

SCL VI closed in October 2017. It is a securitisation of a portfolio of promissory notes and claims related to unsecured loans granted to Norwegian consumers originated and serviced by Nordax Bank AB. The transaction is currently in the revolving period, which is due to end in October 2019 and will be followed by a step-up in the note margins in October 2020.

PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCE AND ASSUMPTIONS
As of 5 September 2018, loan receivables 60 to 90 days delinquent represented 0.5% of the outstanding portfolio balance. The cumulative default rate represented 2.4% of the original portfolio balance including the additional replenishment amounts. The current cumulative recovery rate amounts to 1.1%. DBRS maintained its base case default rate and recovery assumptions at 10.3% and 43.5%, respectively.

CREDIT ENHANCEMENT AND RESERVES
As of the September 2018 payment date, the CE available to the rated notes remained consistent since closing at 29.0% for Class A, 20.0% for Class B, 13.0% for Class C and 7.0% for the Class D Notes. The source of CE for the notes consist of the subordination of the junior notes. An additional CE of 0.33% from the CE reserve is available to all the rated notes. The CE reserve is funded and replenished on each payment date prior to the step-up date through the excess spread available in the transaction. It is currently funded to its target level of NOK 7.2 million, which is determined based on the level delinquencies in the outstanding collateral portfolio.

Additionally, during the revolving period the rated notes benefit from a liquidity reserve equal to 0.5% of the initial portfolio amount that is available to cover senior fees and interest on the Class A and Class B Notes initially, subject to principal deficiency ledger conditions. After the end of the revolving period the liquidity reserve target amount is expected to increase to 1.25% of the initial portfolio balance, to be funded from the interest available funds. The liquidity reserve does not amortise, and it is currently funded to its revolving period target level of NOK 11.2 million.

Nordea Bank AB (Norway Branch) is the account bank provider in the transaction. Based on its DBRS Long-Term Senior Debt rating of AA (low) and the mitigants outlined in the transaction documents, DBRS considers the risk arising from the exposure to the account bank to be consistent with 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 Norwegian kroner unless otherwise noted.

The principal methodology applicable to the ratings 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.

An asset and a cash flow analysis were both conducted. However, due to the inclusion of a revolving period in the transaction, an analysis based on worst-case replenishment criteria set forth in the transaction legal documents was assumed.

A review of the transaction’s 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 source of data and information used for these ratings is the monthly investor reports provided by the Servicer Nordax Bank AB.

DBRS did not rely upon third-party due diligence in order to conduct its analysis.

At the time of the initial rating, DBRS was 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 these ratings 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 4 October 2017, when DBRS finalised its provisional ratings on the notes.

The lead analyst responsibilities for this transaction have been transferred to Andrew Lynch.

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 base case PD and LGD for the revolving collateral pool based on a review of the current assets and the transaction’s eligibility criteria. 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 assumptions for the revolving pool are 10.3% and 43.5%, 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 on the Class A Notes would be expected to fall to A (high) (sf), assuming no change in the PD. If the PD increases by 50%, the rating on the Class A Notes would be expected to fall to A (high) (sf), assuming no change in the LGD. Furthermore, if both the PD and LGD increase by 50%, the rating on the Class A Notes would be expected to fall to BBB (high) (sf).

Class A Notes Risk Sensitivity:
-- 25% increase in LGD, expected rating of AA (sf)
-- 50% increase in LGD, expected rating of A (high) (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD, expected rating of AA (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD, expected rating of A (high) (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD and 25% increase in LGD, expected rating of A (high) (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD and 50% increase in LGD, expected rating of A (low) (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD and 25% increase in LGD, expected rating of A (low) (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD and 50% increase in LGD, expected rating of BBB (high) (sf)

Class B Notes Risk Sensitivity:
-- 25% increase in LGD, expected rating of A (sf)
-- 50% increase in LGD, expected rating of BBB (high) (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD, expected rating of A (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD, expected rating of BBB (high) (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD and 25% increase in LGD, expected rating of BBB (high) (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD and 50% increase in LGD, expected rating of BBB (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD and 25% increase in LGD, expected rating of BBB (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD and 50% increase in LGD, expected rating of BB (high) (sf)

Class C Notes Risk Sensitivity:
-- 25% increase in LGD, expected rating of BBB (high) (sf)
-- 50% increase in LGD, expected rating of BBB (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD, expected rating of BBB (high) (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD, expected rating of BBB (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD and 25% increase in LGD, expected rating of BBB (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD and 50% increase in LGD, expected rating of BB (high) (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD and 25% increase in LGD, expected rating of BB (high) (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD and 50% increase in LGD, expected rating of BB (low) (sf)

Class D Risk Notes Sensitivity:
-- 25% increase in LGD, expected rating of BBB (low) (sf)
-- 50% increase in LGD, expected rating of BB (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD, expected rating of BBB (low) (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD, expected rating of BB (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD and 25% increase in LGD, expected rating of BB (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD and 50% increase in LGD, expected rating of B (high) (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD and 25% increase in LGD, expected rating of B (high) (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD and 50% increase in LGD, expected rating of B (sf)

For further information on DBRS historical 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: Alfonso Candelas, Senior Vice President
Initial Rating Date: 11 September 2017

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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 Originators
-- Operational Risk Assessment for European Structured Finance Servicers
-- Rating European Consumer and Commercial Asset-Backed Securitisations
-- 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.