DBRS Confirms Rating on HT ABANCA RMBS I, Fondo de Titulización

DBRS Ratings GmbH (DBRS) confirmed its AAA (sf) rating of the Series A notes issued by HT ABANCA RMBS I, Fondo de Titulización (the Issuer).

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 Series A notes to cover the expected losses at the AAA (sf) rating level.

The rating on the Series A notes addresses the timely payment of interest and ultimate payment of principal on or before the legal final maturity date in July 2062.

The Issuer is a securitisation of Spanish residential mortgage loans originated and serviced by ABANCA Corporación Bancaria, S.A. (Abanca), closed in May 2016. The initial pool of EUR 900 million consisted of loans granted primarily to borrowers in Galicia (43.6% of the initial pool balance) and Catalonia (17.8%).

PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCE
As of the April 2019 payment date, loans that were 30 to 60 days and 60 to 90 days delinquent represented 0.01% and 0.06% of the outstanding principal balance, respectively, while loans more than 90 days delinquent were 0.05%. Gross cumulative defaults amounted to 0.02% of the original principal balance.

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 on the outstanding portfolio to 4.7% and 25.8%, respectively.

CREDIT ENHANCEMENT
CE to the Series A notes is provided by subordination of the Series B loan and the cash reserve. CE to the Series A notes increased to 26.5% as of the April 2019 payment date, compared to 22.5% at closing.

The transaction benefits from an amortising reserve fund available to cover senior expenses and all payments due on the Series A notes. This reserve was funded to EUR 40.5 million at closing through a subordinated loan granted by Abanca and, from the May 2019 payment date onwards, if 90+ days delinquencies do not exceed 1.5% of the portfolio balance and the reserve has been replenished to its target level on the previous payment date, it will amortise to the lesser of EUR 40.5 million and 9% of the performing portfolio balance, subject to a EUR 20.3 million floor. 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 account bank reference rating of Santander at A (high), which is one notch below the DBRS public Long-Term Critical Obligations Rating of AA (low), the downgrade provisions outlined in the transaction documents, and other mitigating factors inherent in the transaction structure, DBRS considers the risk arising from the exposure to the account bank to be consistent with the rating assigned to the Series A notes, as described in DBRS's "Legal Criteria for European Structured Finance Transactions" methodology.

The transaction structure was analysed in Intex DealMaker.

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 reports provided by Haya Titulización, S.G.F.T., S.A.U. (the Management Company) 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 22 May 2018, when DBRS confirmed its rating on the Series A notes at AAA (sf).

The lead analyst responsibilities for this transaction have been transferred to Daniel Rakhamimov.

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 4.7% and 25.8%, 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 Series A notes would be expected to remain at AAA (sf), assuming no change in the PD. If the PD increases by 50%, the rating on the Series A notes would be expected to remain at AAA (sf), assuming no change in the LGD. Furthermore, if both the PD and LGD increase by 50%, the rating on the Series A notes would be expected to decrease to AA (high) (sf).

Series 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 AA (high) (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: Daniel Rakhamimov, Senior Financial Analyst
Rating Committee Chair: Alfonso Candelas, Senior Vice President
Initial Rating Date: 19 May 2016

DBRS Ratings GmbH
Neue Mainzer Straße 75
60311 Frankfurt am Main Deutschland

Geschäftsführer: Detlef Scholz
Amtsgericht Frankfurt am Main, HRB 110259

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.