DBRS Confirms Rating of HT ABANCA RMBS II, Fondo de Titulización

DBRS Ratings Limited (DBRS) confirmed its AAA (sf) rating of the Class A Notes issued by HT ABANCA RMBS II, Fondo de Titulización (the Issuer).

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 in July 2061.

The confirmation follows an annual review of the transaction and is 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 (CE) to the Notes to cover the expected losses at the AAA (sf) rating level.

HT ABANCA RMBS II, Fondo de Titulización is a static securitisation of first-lien residential mortgage loans originated by Abanca Corporacion Bancaria S.A. (Abanca) in Spain. The initial pool of EUR 900 million consisted of loans granted primarily to borrowers in Galicia (45.3% of the initial pool balance) and Catalonia (15.6%). The transaction closed on 22 December 2017.

PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCE
As of the October 2018 payment date, one- to two-month and two- to three-month delinquencies represented 0.1% and 0.04% of the portfolio balance, respectively, while loans more than three months delinquent represented 0.03%. There have been no defaults realised to date.

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 4.5% and 26.9%, respectively.

CREDIT ENHANCEMENT
As of the October 2018 payment date, CE to the Class A Notes was 14.0%, which increased from 13.3% at the DBRS initial rating. CE is provided by the subordination of junior obligations.

The transaction benefits from an amortising reserve fund available to cover senior expenses and interest payments on the Class A Notes. This reserve was funded at closing through the proceeds of a subordinated loan granted by Abanca. From December 2020 onwards, if 90+ days delinquencies do not exceed 1.5% of the performing portfolio balance and the reserve is replenished to its target level following the application of the priority of payments, it will amortise to the minimum of EUR 40.5 million and 9.0% of the performing portfolio balance, subject to a floor of EUR 20.3 million. Since closing, the reserve has remained at EUR 40.5 million.

Banco Santander SA (Santander) acts as the account bank for the transaction. Based on the reference rating of Santander at A (high), one notch below DBRS Long-Term Critical Obligations Rating of AA (low), the downgrade provisions outlined in the transaction documents, and structural mitigants, DBRS considers the risk arising from the exposure to Santander to be consistent with the ratings 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/333487/rating-sovereign-governments.pdf.

The sources of data and information used for this rating include investor reports provided by HAYA Titulización, S.G.F.T., S.A.U. 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 purpose 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 22 December 2017, when DBRS finalised its provisional rating on the Class A Notes.

The lead analyst responsibilities for this transaction have been transferred to Joana Seara da Costa.

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 4.5% and 26.9%, 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 AA (high) (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 AA (low) (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 A (sf).

Class A Notes Risk Sensitivity:
-- 25% increase in LGD, expected rating of AA (high) (sf)
-- 50% increase in LGD, expected rating of AA (high) (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD, expected rating of AA (high) (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD, expected rating of AA (low) (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD and 25% increase in LGD, expected rating of AA (low) (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD and 50% increase in LGD, expected rating of A (high) (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD and 25% increase in LGD, expected rating of A (high) (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD and 50% increase in LGD, expected rating of A (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: Joana Seara da Costa, Assistant Vice President
Rating Committee Chair: Alfonso Candelas, Senior Vice President
Initial Rating Date: 15 December 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 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.