DBRS Morningstar Upgrades Rating on GAMMA - Sociedade de Titularização de Créditos, S.A. (Hipototta No. 13)

DBRS Ratings GmbH (DBRS Morningstar) upgraded to AA (low) (sf) from A (high) (sf) its rating on the Class A Notes issued by GAMMA - Sociedade de Titularização de Créditos, S.A. (Hipototta No. 13) (the Issuer).

The rating addresses the timely payment of interest and the ultimate payment of principal on or before the final maturity date in October 2072.

The upgrade follows an annual review of the transaction and is based on the following analytical considerations:
-- Portfolio performance, in terms of delinquencies, defaults, and losses, as of the July 2022 payment date;
-- Probability of default (PD), loss given default (LGD), and expected loss assumptions on the remaining receivables; and
-- Current available credit enhancement to the Class A Notes to cover the expected losses at the AA (low) (sf) rating level.

Hipototta No. 13 is a securitisation of Portuguese residential mortgages originated and serviced by Banco Santander Totta S.A. (BST), a core operating subsidiary within the Banco Santander S.A. group. The assets are serviced by BST, with Banco Santander S.A. acting as the backup servicer facilitator. The transaction closed in January 2018, when the special-purpose vehicle issued two classes of floating-rate notes (the Class A and Class B Notes) and one class of additional return notes (the Class C Notes).

PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCE
As of the June 2022 cut-off date, loans that were two to three months and 90+ days in arrears were low both at 0.07% of the outstanding portfolio balance, respectively, up from 0.04% and 0.02%, respectively, as of the June 2021 cut-off date. The gross cumulative default ratio was equal to 0.1% of the initial portfolio balance, stable from last year.

PORTFOLIO ASSUMPTIONS AND KEY DRIVERS
DBRS Morningstar conducted a loan-by-loan analysis of the remaining pool of receivables and has updated its base case PD and LGD assumptions to 8.3% and 19.5%, respectively.

CREDIT ENHANCEMENT
Overcollateralisation of the outstanding collateral portfolio and the reserve fund provides credit enhancement to the Class A Notes. As of the July 2022 payment date, credit enhancement to the Class A Notes was 43.3%, up from 38.1% in July 2021, at the time of the latest annual review of the transaction.
The transaction benefits from an amortising reserve fund, available to cover shortfalls on senior fees, expenses, interest payments on the Class A Notes, and to clear the Class A Notes principal deficiency ledger. The reserve is currently at its target level of EUR 37.5 million (or 3.0% of the outstanding balance of the Class A and Class B Notes), and it is floored at 1.5% of the initial portfolio balance.

Banco Santander Totta S.A. acts as the account bank for the transaction. Based on the DBRS Morningstar Long-Term Issuer Rating of Banco Santander Totta S.A. at “A”, the downgrade provisions outlined in the transaction documents, and structural mitigants inherent in the transaction structure, DBRS Morningstar considers the risk arising from the exposure to the account bank to be consistent with the rating assigned to the Class A Notes, as described in DBRS Morningstar's "Legal Criteria for European Structured Finance Transactions" methodology.

ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, GOVERNANCE CONSIDERATIONS
There were no Environmental/Social/Governance factors that had a significant or relevant effect on the credit analysis.

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/396929/dbrs-morningstar-criteria-approach-to-environmental-social-and-governance-risk-factors-in-credit-ratings.

DBRS Morningstar analysed the transaction structure in Intex DealMaker.

Notes:
All figures are in euros unless otherwise noted.

The principal methodology applicable to the rating is the “Master European Structured Finance Surveillance Methodology” (19 May 2022).
Other methodologies referenced in this transaction are listed at the end of this press release. These may be found at: http://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/about/methodologies.

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

A review of the transaction’s legal documents was not conducted as the legal 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 DBRS Morningstar Sovereign group releases baseline macroeconomic scenarios for rated sovereigns. DBRS Morningstar analysis considered impacts consistent with the baseline scenarios as set forth in the following report: https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/384482/baseline-macroeconomic-scenarios-application-to-credit-ratings.

The sources of data and information used for this rating include investor reports provided by Citibank N.A., London branch, servicer reports and additional information provided by BST, as well as loan-level data provided by the European DataWarehouse GmbH.

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

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

DBRS Morningstar considers the data and information available to it for the purposes of providing this rating to be of satisfactory quality.

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 5 August 2021, when DBRS Morningstar confirmed its A (high) (sf) rating on the Class A Notes.

The lead analyst responsibilities for this transaction have been transferred to Pascale Kallas.

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

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

-- DBRS Morningstar 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 8.3% and 19.5%, 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 remain at AA (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 remain at 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 remain at AA (low) (sf).

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

For further information on DBRS Morningstar historical default rates published by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) in a central repository, see: https://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.

This rating is endorsed by DBRS Ratings Limited for use in the United Kingdom.

Lead Analyst: Pascale Kallas, Senior Analyst
Rating Committee Chair: Alfonso Candelas, Senior Vice President
Initial Rating Date: 9 January 2018

DBRS Ratings GmbH
Neue Mainzer Straße 75
60311 Frankfurt am Main - Deutschland
Tel. +49 (69) 8088 3500
Geschäftsführer: Detlef Scholz
Amtsgericht Frankfurt am Main, HRB 110259

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

-- Master European Structured Finance Surveillance Methodology (19 May 2022), https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/397033/master-european-structured-finance-surveillance-methodology.
-- Legal Criteria for European Structured Finance Transactions (22 July 2022), https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/400166/legal-criteria-for-european-structured-finance-transactions.
-- Operational Risk Assessment for European Structured Finance Servicers (16 September 2021), https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/384513/operational-risk-assessment-for-european-structured-finance-servicers.
-- Master European Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Rating Methodology and Jurisdictional Addenda (8 July 2022) and European RMBS Credit Model 1.0.0.0,
https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/399669/master-european-residential-mortgage-backed-securities-rating-methodology-and-jurisdictional-addenda.
-- Interest Rate Stresses for European Structured Finance Transactions (24 September 2021), https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/384920/interest-rate-stresses-for-european-structured-finance-transactions.
-- DBRS Morningstar Criteria: Approach to Environmental, Social, and Governance Risk Factors in Credit Ratings (17 May 2022),
https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/396929/dbrs-morningstar-criteria-approach-to-environmental-social-and-governance-risk-factors-in-credit-ratings.

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].