Press Release

DBRS Morningstar Assigns AA Rating to Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena S.p.A. Covered Bonds (OBG - Mortgages - Programme 1) Series 29

Covered Bonds

February 04, 2022

DBRS Ratings GmbH (DBRS Morningstar) assigned a rating of AA to Series 29 of the Obbligazioni Bancarie Garantite (OBG; the Italian legislative covered bonds) issued under the Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA (BMPS or the Issuer) EUR 20,000,000,000 covered bond programme (BMPS OBG1 or the Programme) guaranteed by MPS Covered Bond S.r.l.

At the same time, DBRS Morningstar discontinued its rating on Series 17, which reached its final maturity date on 20 January 2022.

Series 29 is a EUR 750 million floating-rate bond, which pays a coupon linked to three-month Euribor plus a spread of 0.23% and matures on 31 March 2025. The extended maturity date is 31 March 2063.

Including Series 29, there are currently 12 outstanding series of OBG under the Programme that total a nominal amount of EUR 8.2 billion.

The rating is based on the following analytical considerations:
-- A Covered Bonds Attachment Point (CBAP) of BBB (low), which is the Long Term Critical Obligations Rating of BMPS. BMPS is the Issuer and the Reference Entity for the Programme. DBRS Morningstar classifies the Republic of Italy (Italy; rated BBB (high) with a Stable trend) as a jurisdiction in which covered bonds are a particularly important funding instrument and deems the cover pool (CP) strategic for the core activity of the Issuer.
-- A Legal and Structuring Framework (LSF) Assessment of “Very Strong” associated with the Programme.
-- A Cover Pool Credit Assessment (CPCA) of “A”, which is the lowest CPCA in line with the assigned LSF-Implied Likelihood (LSF-L).
-- An LSF-L of A (high).
-- A two-notch uplift on the LSF-L for high recovery prospects.
-- A level of overcollateralisation (OC) of 35.7% to which DBRS Morningstar gives credit, which is the minimum level observed in the last 12 months adjusted by a scaling factor of 0.85, and an Issuer-committed asset percentage of 81.0%, corresponding to a level of committed OC of 23.5%.
-- The sovereign rating of the Republic of Italy, rated BBB (high) with a Stable trend by DBRS Morningstar, as of the date of this press release.

DBRS Morningstar analysed the transaction with its European Covered Bond Cash Flow Tool. The main assumptions focused on the timing of defaults and recoveries of the assets and interest rate stresses. In accordance with the DBRS Morningstar “Rating and Monitoring Covered Bonds” methodology, DBRS Morningstar did not analyse any forced asset liquidations for this transaction, given the conditional pass-through structure. DBRS Morningstar assumed several prepayment scenarios, ranging between a 1% and 20% prepayment rate.

Everything else equal, a one-notch downgrade of the CBAP would lead to a two-notch downgrade of the covered bonds rating. In addition, DBRS Morningstar would downgrade the ratings if any of the following occurred: (1) the quality of the CP and the level of OC were no longer sufficient to support a two-notch uplift for high recovery prospects, (2) the LSF Assessment associated with the Programme were downgraded to “Strong” or below or (3) the CPCA were downgraded below “A”.

BMPS OBG1 has a conditional pass-through structure. If the guarantee is enforced, the Guarantor is not contractually bound to pursue a forced asset sale of the CP in a distressed market environment. Notwithstanding this, the Guarantor can still attempt to liquidate the assets with a view to meeting its payment obligations on the pass-through series and on the earliest maturing covered bonds. In so doing, the Guarantor shall attempt to maintain the Programme’s OC proportionally to all asset sales. Additionally, the Programme documentation provides for the sale of the assets to take place only as long as the Amortisation Test (which sets the OC to a level of at least 75% of the OC resulting from the Asset Percentage used on the last Test Calculation Date preceding the service of a Guarantee Enforcement Notice) is complied with before and after the sale. Should the Amortisation Test be breached, all series switch to pass-through payment on a pari passu and pro rata basis. DBRS Morningstar did not account for stresses on forced asset sales in its analysis because the Guarantor is not obliged to liquidate the assets.

The Bank of New York Mellon (Luxembourg) SA/NV, Milan Branch (rated AA (high) with a Stable trend by DBRS Morningstar) and The Bank of New York Mellon SA/NV, London branch (rated AA (high) with a Stable trend by DBRS Morningstar) have replaced BMPS in its capacity as the Italian and English account banks, respectively. DBRS Morningstar considers the risk arising from the exposure to these entities to be consistent with the ratings assigned to the OBG, as described in DBRS Morningstar's "Legal Criteria for European Structured Finance Transactions" methodology. Commingling and set-off risk are mitigated by the computation of such risks in the asset coverage tests.

As of December 2021, the total CP balance was EUR 12.23 billion, including EUR 12.11 billion of mortgages and EUR 121.27 million of cash. Including Series 29, there currently are EUR 8.2 billion covered bonds outstanding under BMPS OBG1 for a total OC of 44.9%, net of commingling and set-off amounts.

As of December 2021, the mortgage CP comprised 152,127 mortgages backed by residential properties located in Italy. All mortgages were originated by either BMPS or affiliated groups. A small portion of the pool, 6.2% by loan balance as of the end of June 2021, was granted to individuals not classified as SAE 600 by the Bank of Italy. DBRS Morningstar received separate default data for these borrowers and calculated a stressed default rate.

As of December 2021, the weighted-average (WA) current loan-to-value ratio of the mortgages was 49.97% with a WA seasoning of 7.2 years. The CP is well distributed across Italy with the highest concentrations in Tuscany (20.2% by outstanding loan balance), Lazio (15.2%), and Lombardy (14.3%).

The CP comprises fixed-rate loans (42.1% by outstanding balance), floating-rate loans (56.1% by outstanding balance), and loans that have the option to switch to either a floating or fixed rate (1.9% by outstanding balance). The floating-rate mortgages are indexed to different plain-vanilla bases and reset at different dates. Approximately 42.7% of OBG notional pays a floating-rate coupon until the expected maturity and, if the maturity is extended, the relevant series becomes a pass-through series paying a floating rate plus a spread on a quarterly basis. DBRS Morningstar considered interest rate risk mismatch in its cash flow analysis.

All CP assets and OBGs are denominated in euros. As such, investors are not currently exposed to any foreign-exchange rate risk.

As of December 2021, the WA life of the CP was 9.8 years, which is longer than the 3.0 years WA life on the OBG (calculated as of today) when accounting for the expected maturity. This risk is mitigated by the long extendable maturity date, which falls 38 years after the maturity date.

DBRS Morningstar assessed the LSF related to the BMPS OBG1 as “Very Strong” according to its rating methodology. For more information, please refer to the DBRS Morningstar commentary, “Italian Covered Bonds Legal and Structuring Framework Review,” available at www.dbrsmorningstar.com.

COVID-19 CONSIDERATIONS
The Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) and the resulting isolation measures have caused an immediate economic contraction, leading in some cases to increases in unemployment rates and income reductions for many borrowers. DBRS Morningstar anticipates that delinquencies may continue to increase in the coming months for many CPs. The ratings are based on additional analysis to expected performance as a result of the global efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus. For this transaction, DBRS Morningstar assumed a moderate decline in residential property prices.

The DBRS Morningstar Sovereign group releases baseline macroeconomic scenarios for rated sovereigns. These scenarios were last updated on 9 December 2021. DBRS Morningstar analysis considered impacts consistent with the baseline scenario in the below referenced report. For details, see the following commentaries: https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/389454/baseline-macroeconomic-scenarios-for-rated-sovereigns-december-2021-update and https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/384482/baseline-macroeconomic-scenarios-application-to-credit-ratings.

ESG CONSIDERATIONS
DBRS Morningstar took into consideration some significant governance factors underlying the analysis for the RE’s rating, and considers them as significant also for the covered bonds’ ratings, in that they may affect the CBAP of this Programme.

A description of how DBRS Morningstar considers ESG factors within the DBRS Morningstar analytical framework can be found in the DBRS Morningstar Criteria: Approach to Environmental, Social, and Governance Risk Factors in Credit Ratings at https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/373262.

Notes:
All figures are in euros unless otherwise noted.

The principal methodology applicable to the ratings is “Rating and Monitoring Covered Bonds” (10 June 2021).

Other methodologies referenced in this transaction are listed at the end of this press release. These may be found at: https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/about/methodologies.

In DBRS Morningstar’s opinion, the change(s) under consideration do not require the application of the entire principal methodology. Therefore, DBRS Morningstar focused on the cash flow analysis.

A review of the transaction legal documents was limited to the documentation pertaining to the issuance of Series 29. All the other documents have remained unchanged since the most recent rating action.

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 Morningstar Credit Ratings” of the “Global Methodology for Rating Sovereign Governments” at: https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/381451/global-methodology-for-rating-sovereign-governments.

The sources of data and information used for these ratings include investor reports and stratification information on the CP provided by the Issuer as of December 2021.

DBRS Morningstar considers the information available to it for the purposes of providing these ratings to be of satisfactory quality.

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

At the time of initial rating, DBRS Morningstar was supplied with third-party assessments. However, this did not impact the rating analysis.

DBRS Morningstar 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 6 August 2021, when DBRS Morningstar upgraded its ratings on BMPS CB1 to AA from AA (low) following a full review of the Programme.

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

For further information on DBRS Morningstar 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. DBRS Morningstar understands further information on DBRS Morningstar historical default rates may be published by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on its webpage: https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/credit-rating-agencies.

These ratings are endorsed by DBRS Ratings Limited for use in the United Kingdom.

Lead Analyst: Antonio Laudani, Vice President
Rating Committee Chair: Ketan Thaker, Managing Director
Initial Rating Date: 3 June 2015

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The rating methodologies used in the analysis of this transaction can be found at: https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/about/methodologies.

A description of how DBRS Morningstar analyses structured finance transactions and how the methodologies are collectively applied can be found at: https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/278375.

For more information on this credit or on this industry, visit www.dbrsmorningstar.com or contact us at [email protected].

ALL MORNINGSTAR DBRS RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO DISCLAIMERS AND CERTAIN LIMITATIONS. PLEASE READ THESE DISCLAIMERS AND LIMITATIONS AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REGARDING MORNINGSTAR DBRS RATINGS, INCLUDING DEFINITIONS, POLICIES, RATING SCALES AND METHODOLOGIES.

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