DBRS Morningstar Confirms Credit Ratings on Civitas SPV S.r.l. - Series 2017-1

DBRS Ratings GmbH (DBRS Morningstar) confirmed its AAA (sf) credit ratings on the Class A1, A2, and B notes (collectively, the senior notes) issued by Civitas SPV S.r.l. - Series 2017-1 (the Issuer).

The credit ratings on the Class A1, Class A2, and Class B notes address the timely payment of interest and the ultimate repayment of principal by the legal maturity date in October 2070.

The credit rating actions are based on the following analytical considerations:
-- Portfolio performance, in terms of delinquencies, defaults, and losses, as of the July 2023 payment date;
-- Portfolio default rate (PD), loss given default (LGD), and expected loss assumptions on the remaining receivables; and
-- Current available credit enhancement to the senior notes to cover the expected losses at the AAA (sf) credit rating levels.

The transaction is a securitisation of first-lien Italian residential mortgages originated and serviced by Banca di Cividale S.p.A. The transaction closed in July 2017 and incorporated a three-year ramp-up period, which ended in April 2020 when the notes were drawn up to the maximum amount permitted by the transaction. Since then, the Class A1 and Class A2 notes have amortised on a pro rata basis and stood at a class factor of 0.46 as of the July 2023 payment date. Following the amendment to the transaction on 12 October 2022, the Class B notes have also started to amortise on a pro rata basis and stood at a class factor of 0.89 as of the July 2023 payment date.

PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCE
As of the July 2023 payment date, loans that were two to three months delinquent represented 0.1% of the outstanding portfolio balance, while loans more than three months delinquent represented 0.2%. As of the July 2023 payment date, the gross cumulative default ratio was 0.9%.

PORTFOLIO ASSUMPTIONS AND KEY DRIVERS
DBRS Morningstar conducted a loan-by-loan analysis of the current portfolio of receivables and updated its PD and LGD assumptions to 13.0% and 15.5%, respectively.

CREDIT ENHANCEMENT
Following the amendment and the ranking of the Class B notes pro rata and pari passu with the Class A1 and A2 notes, credit enhancement is provided only by the subordination of the Class C notes. As of the July 2023 payment date, credit enhancement to the Class A1, Class A2, and Class B notes was 24.36%.

The transaction benefits from an amortising cash reserve, which is available to cover senior fees, expenses, and interest due on the senior notes. The cash reserve has a target equal to 2.5% of the aggregate senior notes’ balance. As of the July 2023 payment date, the cash reserve stood at its target of EUR 8.9 million.

BNP Paribas Succursale Italia (BNP Italy) acts as the account bank for the transaction. Based on DBRS Morningstar’s AA reference credit rating on BNP Italy’s parent company BNP Paribas SA, which is one notch below its DBRS Morningstar Long-Term Critical Obligations Rating of AA (high), the downgrade provisions outlined in the transaction documents, and other mitigating factors inherent in the transaction structure, DBRS Morningstar considers the risk arising from the exposure to the account bank to be consistent with the credit ratings assigned to the senior notes, as described in DBRS Morningstar's "Legal Criteria for European Structured Finance Transactions" methodology.

DBRS Morningstar’s credit ratings on the rated notes address the credit risk associated with the identified financial obligations in accordance with the relevant transaction documents.

DBRS Morningstar’s credit ratings do not address nonpayment risk associated with contractual payment obligations contemplated in the applicable transaction documents that are not financial obligations.

DBRS Morningstar’s long-term credit ratings provide opinions on risk of default. DBRS Morningstar considers risk of defaults to be the risk that an issuer will fail to satisfy the financial obligations in accordance with the terms under which a long-term obligation has been issued.

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/416784/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 credit ratings is: “Master European Structured Finance Surveillance Methodology” (6 October 2023), https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/421598/master-european-structured-finance-surveillance-methodology.

Other methodologies referenced in this transaction are listed at the end of this press release.

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 legal documents was not conducted as the legal documents have remained unchanged since the most recent credit rating action.

For a more detailed discussion of the sovereign risk impact on Structured Finance credit 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/421590/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 these credit ratings include investor reports provided by Securitisation Services S.p.A. and loan-level data provided by the European DataWarehouse GmbH.

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

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

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

DBRS Morningstar does not audit or independently verify the data or information it receives in connection with the credit rating process.

The last credit rating action on this transaction took place on 12 October 2022, when DBRS Morningstar confirmed the credit ratings on the Class A1 and Class A2 notes at AAA (sf) and upgraded the credit rating on the Class B notes to AAA (sf) from BBB (low) (sf) following a transaction amendment.

The lead analyst responsibilities for this transaction have been transferred to Shalva Beshia.

Information regarding DBRS Morningstar credit 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 credit ratings, DBRS Morningstar considered the following stress scenarios as compared with the parameters used to determine the credit ratings (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 13.0% and 15.5%, respectively.
-- The risk sensitivity overview below illustrates the credit 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 credit ratings of the senior notes would be expected to remain at AAA (sf), assuming no change in the PD. If the PD increases by 50%, the credit ratings of the senior 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 credit ratings of the senior notes would be expected to fall to AA (sf).

Senior Notes Risk Sensitivity:
-- 25% increase in LGD, expected credit rating of AAA (sf)
-- 50% increase in LGD, expected credit rating of AAA (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD, expected credit rating of AAA (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD, expected credit rating of AAA (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD and 25% increase in LGD, expected credit rating of AAA (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD and 50% increase in LGD, expected credit rating of AAA (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD and 25% increase in LGD, expected credit rating of AA (high) (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD and 50% increase in LGD, expected credit rating of AA (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://registers.esma.europa.eu/cerep-publication. For further information on DBRS Morningstar historical default rates published by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in a central repository, see https://data.fca.org.uk/#/ceres/craStats.

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

Lead Analyst: Shalva Beshia, Assistant Vice President
Rating Committee Chair: Alfonso Candelas, Senior Vice President
Initial Rating Date: 19 July 2017

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

-- Legal Criteria for European Structured Finance Transactions (30 June 2023), https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/416730/legal-criteria-for-european-structured-finance-transactions.
-- Master European Structured Finance Surveillance Methodology (6 October 2023), https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/421598/master-european-structured-finance-surveillance-methodology.
-- Operational Risk Assessment for European Structured Finance Servicers (15 September 2023), https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/420572/operational-risk-assessment-for-european-structured-finance-servicers.
-- European RMBS Insight Methodology (27 March 2023) and European RMBS Insight Model v6.0.0.0, https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/411634/european-rmbs-insight-methodology.
-- European RMBS Insight: Italian Addendum (2 October 2023), https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/421317/european-rmbs-insight-italian-addendum.
-- Interest Rate Stresses for European Structured Finance Transactions (15 September 2023), https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/420602/interest-rate-stresses-for-european-structured-finance-transactions.
-- DBRS Morningstar Criteria: Approach to Environmental, Social, and Governance Risk Factors in Credit Ratings (4 July 2023), https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/416784/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].