DBRS Morningstar Confirms Credit Rating on HT ABANCA RMBS II, Fondo de Titulización

DBRS Ratings GmbH (DBRS Morningstar) confirmed its AAA (sf) credit rating on the Class A Notes issued by HT ABANCA RMBS II, Fondo de Titulización (the Issuer).

The credit rating addresses the timely payment of interest and the ultimate payment of principal on or before the legal final maturity date in July 2061.

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, as of the October 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 Class A Notes to cover the expected losses at the AAA (sf) credit rating level.

The transaction is a static securitisation of first-lien residential mortgage loans originated and serviced by Abanca Corporación Bancaria, S.A. (Abanca) in Spain. The EUR 900 million initial pool consisted of loans granted primarily to borrowers in Galicia (45.3% of the initial pool balance) and Catalonia (15.6%). The transaction closed on 22 December 2017.

PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCE
As of the October 2023 payment date, loans one-to-two months and loans two-to-three months delinquent represented 0.4% and 0.3% of the outstanding portfolio balance, respectively, while loans more than three months delinquent represented 0.8%. Gross cumulative defaults amounted to 0.3% of the original portfolio balance, with cumulative recoveries of 35.7% to date.

PORTFOLIO ASSUMPTIONS AND KEY DRIVERS
DBRS Morningstar conducted a loan-by-loan analysis of the remaining pool of receivables and updated its base case PD and LGD assumptions to 1.2% and 18.7%, respectively.

CREDIT ENHANCEMENT
The subordination of junior obligations provides credit enhancement to the Class A Notes. As of the October 2023 payment date, credit enhancement to the Class A Notes increased to 23.7% from 19.7% at the time of the last annual review 12 months ago.

The transaction benefits from an amortising reserve fund available to cover senior expenses and interest payments on the Class A Notes. This reserve was funded at closing through the proceeds of a subordinated loan granted by Abanca. So long as 90+-day delinquencies do not exceed 1.5% of the performing portfolio balance and the reserve is replenished to its target level following the application of priority of payments, the reserve will amortise to the minimum of EUR 40.5 million or 9.0% of the performing portfolio balance, subject to a floor of EUR 20.3 million. Since closing, the reserve has remained at its target balance of EUR 40.5 million.

Following an account bank provider replacement in April 2023, Sociètè Gènèrale SA, Sucursal en España (SocGen Spain) acts as the account bank for the transaction. Based on DBRS Morningstar’s private credit rating on SocGen Spain, 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 rating assigned to the Class A Notes, as described in DBRS Morningstar's "Legal Criteria for European Structured Finance Transactions" methodology.

DBRS Morningstar’s credit rating on the rated notes addresses 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 transactions 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 term 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 rating is the “Master European Structured Finance Surveillance Methodology” (22 October 2023), https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/422281/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.

With respect to the account bank provider replacement, DBRS Morningstar reviewed the relevant transaction legal documents. A review of other transaction legal documents was not conducted as the 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 this credit rating 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 Morningstar did not rely upon third-party due diligence in order to conduct its analysis.

At the time of the initial credit 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 purpose of providing this credit rating 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 7 December 2022, when DBRS Morningstar confirmed the credit rating on the Class A Notes at AAA (sf).

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 rating, DBRS Morningstar considered the following stress scenarios as compared with the parameters used to determine the credit 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 1.2% and 18.7%, respectively.

Class A 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 AAA (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD and 50% increase in LGD, expected credit rating of AAA (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.

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

Lead Analyst: Daniel Rakhamimov, Assistant Vice President
Rating Committee Chair: Alfonso Candelas, Senior Vice President
Initial Credit Rating Date: 15 December 2017

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The credit rating methodologies used in the analysis of this transaction can be found at: http://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 (22 October 2023),
https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/422281/master-european-structured-finance-surveillance-methodology.
-- 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.
-- 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 v6.0.1.0,
https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/411634/european-rmbs-insight-methodology.
-- European RMBS Insight: Spanish Addendum (1 March 2023),
https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/410420/european-rmbs-insight-spanish-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.

A description of how DBRS Morningstar analyses structured finance transactions and how the methodologies are collectively applied can be found at http://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].