DBRS Assigns Rating of AA (low) (sf) to Marzio Finance S.r.l. - Series 5-2019

DBRS Ratings GmbH (DBRS) assigned a rating of AA (low) (sf) to the EUR 255,100,000 Class A Notes issued by Marzio Finance S.r.l. (the Issuer) under Series 5-2019, in the context of a securitisation programme (the Programme).

The rating addresses the timely payment of interest and ultimate repayment of principal on or before the final maturity date falling in January 2044. The Issuer, under its Series 5-2019, also issued EUR 33,057,000 Series 5-2019 Class J Asset-Backed Notes due 2044, which were not rated by DBRS.

In the context of the Programme, which was established in August 2017 and amended in November 2018, DBRS assigned a rating of A (high) (sf) to the Class A Series 1-2017 on 28 September 2017, which was upgraded to AA (low) (sf) on 28 September 2018. DBRS also assigned a rating of AA (low) (sf) to the Class A Series 2-2018 on 29 January 2018, which was confirmed following the annual review of the transaction on 29 January 2019. On 24 May 2018, DBRS assigned a rating of AA (low) (sf) to the Class A Series 3-2018, and on 21 November 2018 the ratings of AA (sf) and A (high) (sf) to the Class A and Class B Series 4-2018, respectively.

Further series may be issued under the Programme by the Issuer, but each series and the portfolio backing it are segregated from the others. As such, although DBRS may assign ratings to notes from the other series, the ratings may be different and different rating actions may be taken on different series. In fact, although all series rely upon the same template documents, each series is regulated by a specific set of documents and is backed by its own segregated estate of the Programme as typically permitted under Italian securitisation law; however, most of the counterparties and some of the series features are identical since they are based on the same Programme template documents.

The notes issued under Series 5-2019 are backed by Italian consumer loan contracts related to salary and pension assignment loans as well as payment delegation loans granted by IBL Istituto Bancario del Lavoro S.p.A. (IBL) to Italian employees and pensioners. The proceeds of subscription from the Series 5-2019 notes financed the purchase of the portfolio backing the Series 5-2019 notes. The Series 5-2019 receivables are segregated from the Series 1-2017, the Series 2-2018, the Series 3-2018, the Series 4-2018 and the other series’ receivables that may be assigned to back the issuance of further series. The Series 5-2019 receivables and the other receivables that may be assigned in the context of the Programme are serviced by IBL, with IBL Servicing S.p.A., a company fully owned by IBL, appointed as master servicer. Zenith is the backup servicer for this transaction.

As of 28 February 2019, the Series 5-2019 portfolio consisted of 14,268 loan contracts with a total balance of approximately EUR 280 million. The portfolio is composed of salary assignment (48.2% of the outstanding balance), pension assignment (34.5%) and payment delegation (17.3%) loans. It is mainly distributed in the southern central provinces of Italy, with the highest concentrations in the regions of Lazio (21.2% of the outstanding balance), Sicily (12.6%) and Lombardy (12.0%).

The rating is based on DBRS’s review of the following analytical considerations:
-- The available credit enhancement in the form of subordination, reserves and excess spread;
-- The ability of the transaction’s structure to withstand stressed cash flow assumptions in order to pay interest on a timely basis and ultimately repay the principal of the Class A Notes on or before the legal maturity date according to the terms of the transaction documents;
-- IBL’s financial situation and its capabilities with respect to originations, underwriting and servicing;
-- The role of Zenith Service S.p.A. as the appointed backup servicer and its capabilities in that respect;
-- The credit quality of the collateral as deduced from the available information and the ability of the servicer to perform collection activities on the collateral;
-- The sovereign rating of the Republic of Italy, which is currently rated BBB (high) by DBRS; and
-- The legal structure and legal opinions that address the assignment of the assets to the Issuer and the other features, that, more generally, are consistent with DBRS’s “Legal Criteria for European Structured Finance Transactions” methodology.

The transaction structure was analysed with Intex DealMaker, considering the default rates at which the rated notes did not return all specified cash flows.

Notes:
All figures are in euros unless otherwise noted.

The principal methodology applicable to the rating is: “Rating European Consumer and Commercial Asset-Backed Securitisations”.

DBRS has applied the principal methodology consistently and conducted a review of the transaction in accordance with the principal methodology.

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: https://www.dbrs.com/research/333487/rating-sovereign-governments.

The sources of data and information used for this rating include static gross loss analysis by quarterly vintage from 2008; static recovery analysis by quarterly vintage from 2008; and dynamic prepayment analysis by quarterly vintage from 2008. All information used for this rating was sourced from IBL directly or indirectly through the transaction co-arranger, UniCredit Bank AG, London branch.

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

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.

This rating concerns a newly issued financial instrument. This is the first DBRS rating on this financial instrument.

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

To assess the impact of changing the transaction parameters on the rating, DBRS considered the following stress scenarios, as compared to the parameters used to determine the rating (the Base Case):

Probability of Default Rates (PD): 33.1% for an AA (low) (sf) scenario, a 25% and 50% increase on PD.
Recovery Rates Used: 34.1% for an AA (low) (sf) scenario.
Loss Given Defaults (LGD): 65.9% for an AA (low) (sf) scenario, a 25% and 50% increase in LGD.

DBRS concludes that for the Class A Notes:
-- A hypothetical increase of the base case PD or LGD by 25%, ceteris paribus, would lead to a downgrade of the Class A Notes to A (high) (sf).
-- A hypothetical increase of the base case PD by 50%, ceteris paribus, would lead to a downgrade of the Class A Notes to A (sf).
-- A hypothetical increase of the base case LGD by 50%, ceteris paribus, would lead to a downgrade of the Class A Notes to A (high) (sf).
-- A hypothetical increase of the base case PD and LGD by 25%, ceteris paribus, would lead to a downgrade of the Class A Notes to A (sf).
-- A hypothetical increase of the base case PD by 25% and LGD by 50%, ceteris paribus, would lead to a downgrade of the Class A Notes to A (sf).
-- A hypothetical increase of the base case PD by 50% and LGD by 25%, ceteris paribus, would lead to a downgrade of the Class A Notes to A (sf).
-- A hypothetical increase of the base case PD and LGD by 50%, ceteris paribus, would lead to a downgrade of the Class A Notes to A (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 GmbH are subject to EU and US regulations only.
Lead Analyst: Ilaria Maschietto, Assistant Vice President
Rating Committee Chair: Alfonso Candelas, Senior Vice President
Initial Rating Date: 5 April 2019

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

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

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.