DBRS Confirms Ratings of TDA Sabadell RMBS 4, Fondo de Titulizacion

DBRS Ratings Limited (DBRS) confirmed the following ratings on the bonds issued by TDA Sabadell RMBS 4, Fondo de Titulización (the Issuer):

-- Class A Notes at A (high) (sf)
-- Class B Notes at B (high) (sf)

The rating on the Class A Notes addresses the timely payment of interest and ultimate payment of principal on or before the legal final maturity date. The rating on the Class B Notes addresses 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, defaults and losses.
-- Portfolio default rate (PD), loss given default (LGD) and expected loss assumptions on the remaining receivables.
-- Current available credit enhancement to the notes to cover the expected losses at their respective rating levels.

The Issuer is a securitsation of Spanish residential mortgage loans originated and serviced by Banco de Sabadell S.A. (Banco Sabadell) in Spain. The Issuer used the proceeds of the Class A and Class B Notes to fund the purchase of the mortgage portfolio from the Seller. In addition, Banco Sabadell provided separate additional subordinated loans to fund both the initial expenses and the reserve fund (RF).

PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCE
As of the end of October 2018, loans that were two- to three-month arrears represented 2.0% of the outstanding portfolio balance, up from 0.1% in February 2018, and the 90+ delinquency ratio was 2.5%, up from 0.0% in February 2018. As of August 2018, there were no cumulative defaults reported.

PORTFOLIO ASSUMPTIONS
DBRS conducted a loan-by-loan analysis on the remaining pool and updated its PD and LGD assumptions on the remaining portfolio collateral pool to 22.6% and 46.8%, respectively, at the A (high) (sf) rating level, and to 8.9% and 36.1%, respectively, at the B (high) (sf) rating level.

CREDIT ENHANCEMENT
As of the August 2018 payment date, credit enhancement to the Class A Notes was 15.4%, up from 14.4% at the DBRS initial rating. Credit enhancement to the Class B Notes was 5.2%, up from 4.9% at the DBRS initial rating.

The Class A Notes benefit from EUR 570 million subordination of the Class B Notes and from a RF, currently at its target level of EUR 294 million, which is available to cover senior expenses as well as the interest and principal of the Class A Notes until the notes are paid in full. The RF amortises in line with the Class A and Class B Notes and will become available for the Class B Notes once the Class A Notes have been fully amortised. The RF does not amortise if certain performance triggers are breached. The Class A Notes’ principal is senior to the Class B Notes’ interest payments in the priority of payments.

Banco Sabadell acts as the account bank for the transaction. Based on the account bank reference rating of A (low), which is one notch below the DBRS Long-Term Critical Obligations Rating (COR) of Banco Sabadell of “A”, the downgrade provisions outlined in the transaction documents, and structural mitigants, DBRS considers the risk arising from the exposure to Banco Sabadell 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.

The interest rate risk is covered by a swap contract with Banco Sabadell. The DBRS Long-Term COR of Banco Sabadell is above the First Rating Threshold as described in DBRS’s “Derivative Criteria for European Structured Finance Transactions” methodology, given the A (high) (sf) rating of the Class A Notes.

Notes:
All figures are in euros 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.

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/333487/rating-sovereign-governments.pdf.

The sources of data and information used for these ratings include investor and servicer reports provided by the management company, Titulización de Activos, S.G.F.T., S.A, 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 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 December 2017, when DBRS finalised its provisional ratings on the notes.

The lead analyst responsibilities for this transaction have been transferred to Francesco Amato.

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 7.8% and 35.4%, 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 fall to A (low) (sf), assuming no change in the PD. If the PD increases by 50%, the rating of the Class A Notes would be expected to fall to BBB (high) (sf), assuming no change in the LGD. Furthermore, if both the PD and LGD increase by 50%, the rating of the Class A Notes would be expected to fall to BB (high) (sf).

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

Class B Notes Risk Sensitivity:
-- 25% increase in LGD, expected rating of B (sf)
-- 50% increase in LGD, expected rating below B (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD, expected rating below B (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD, expected rating below B (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD and 25% increase in LGD, expected rating below B (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD and 50% increase in LGD, expected rating below B (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD and 25% increase in LGD, expected rating below B (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD and 50% increase in LGD, expected rating below B (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: Francesco Amato, Financial Analyst
Rating Committee Chair: Christian Aufsatz, Managing Director
Initial Rating Date: 29 November 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
-- Derivative 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: Spanish 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.