Press Release

DBRS Morningstar Upgrades and Confirms Credit Ratings on Brignole CO 2021 S.r.l.

Consumer Loans & Credit Cards

December 12, 2023

DBRS Ratings GmbH (DBRS Morningstar) took the following credit rating actions on the notes issued by Brignole CO 2021 S.r.l. (Brignole CO 2021 or the Issuer):

-- Class A Notes confirmed at AAA (sf)
-- Class B Notes upgraded to AA (high) (sf) from AA (sf)
-- Class C Notes upgraded to AA (low) (sf) from A (sf)
-- Class D Notes confirmed at BBB (high) (sf)
-- Class E Notes confirmed at B (high) (sf)

The credit rating on the Class A Notes addresses the timely payment of interest and the ultimate repayment of principal on or before the legal final maturity date in July 2036. The credit ratings on the Class B, Class C, Class D, and Class E Notes address the ultimate payment of interest and the ultimate repayment of principal by the legal final maturity date while junior to other outstanding classes of notes, but the timely payment of interest when they are the senior-most tranche.

The credit rating actions are based on the following analytical considerations:
-- Portfolio performance, in terms of delinquencies, defaults, and losses, as of the November 2023 payment date;
-- Probability of default (PD), loss given default (LGD), and expected loss assumptions on the receivables; and
-- Current available credit enhancement to the Class A to Class E Notes to cover the expected losses at their respective credit rating levels.

Brignole CO 2021 is a securitisation of Italian consumer loan receivables originated and serviced by Creditis Servizi Finanziari S.p.A. (Creditis). The transaction closed in July 2021 and included an 18-month revolving period that ended on the January 2023 payment date.

PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCE
The portfolio is performing within DBRS Morningstar’s expectations. As of the October 2023 cut-off date, loans that were one, two, and three months in arrears represented 1.2%, 0.5%, and 0.3% of the outstanding performing portfolio balance, respectively, while loans more than three months in arrears represented 0.5%. Gross cumulative defaults amounted to 1.3% of the aggregate initial and subsequent portfolios original balance, with cumulative recoveries of 9.2% to date.

PORTFOLIO ASSUMPTIONS AND KEY DRIVERS
DBRS Morningstar maintained its base case PD and LGD assumptions at 3.3% and 70.0%, respectively.

CREDIT ENHANCEMENT
The subordination of the respective junior obligations and the cash reserve provide credit enhancement to the rated notes. As of the November 2023 payment date, credit enhancement was 19.8%, 14.5%, 8.5%, 5.0%, and 1.4% for the Class A, Class B, Class C, Class D, and Class E Notes, respectively.

The transaction benefits from liquidity support provided by an amortising cash reserve. The reserve is available to cover interest payments on the Class A and Class B Notes and to cure the Class A principal deficiency ledger balance. The reserve has a target balance equal to 1.0% of the outstanding balance of the Class A to Class E Notes, subject to a floor of EUR 1.36 million. As of the November 2023 payment date, the reserve was at its target balance of EUR 1.92 million.

BNP Paribas Succursale Italia (BNP Paribas Italy) acts as the account bank for the transaction. Based on DBRS Morningstar's private credit rating on BNP Paribas Italy, the downgrade provisions outlined in the transaction documents, and other mitigating factors inherent in the transaction structures, DBRS Morningstar considers the risk arising from the exposure to the account bank to be consistent with the credit ratings assigned to the notes, as described in DBRS Morningstar's "Legal Criteria for European Structured Finance Transactions" methodology.

Natixis S.A. (Natixis) acts as the swap counterparty for the transaction. DBRS Morningstar's private credit rating on Natixis is above the first credit rating threshold as described in DBRS Morningstar's "Derivative 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 non-payment 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 default 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 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.

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.

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.

The sources of data and information used for these credit ratings include investor reports provided by BNP Paribas Italy; loan-level data provided by the European DataWarehouse GmbH; as well as servicer reports and additional information from Creditis.

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 28 December 2022, when DBRS Morningstar confirmed its credit ratings on the Class A, Class B, Class C, Class D, and Class E Notes at AAA (sf), AA (sf), A (sf), BBB (high) (sf), and B (high) (sf), respectively and upgraded its credit rating on the Class X Notes to BB (low) (sf) from B (low) (sf), following a transaction amendment. The Class X Notes were fully repaid on the July 2023 payment date and the credit rating was discontinued.

The lead analyst responsibilities have been transferred to Pascale Kallas.

Information regarding DBRS Morningstar credit ratings, including definitions, policies, and methodologies, is available on 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 3.3% and 70.0%, 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.

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 AA (high) (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 (high) (sf)

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

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

Class D Notes Risk Sensitivity:
-- 25% increase in LGD, expected credit rating of BBB (high) (sf)
-- 50% increase in LGD, expected credit rating of BBB (high) (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD, expected credit rating of BBB (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD, expected credit rating of BBB (low) (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD and 25% increase in LGD, expected credit rating of BBB (low) (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD and 50% increase in LGD, expected credit rating of BBB (low) (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD and 25% increase in LGD, expected credit rating of BB (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD and 50% increase in LGD, expected credit rating of BB (sf)

Class E Notes Risk Sensitivity:
-- 25% increase in LGD, expected credit rating of B (low) (sf)
-- 50% increase in LGD, expected credit rating below B (low) (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD, expected credit rating of B (low) (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD, expected credit rating below B (low) (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD and 25% increase in LGD, expected credit rating below B (low) (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD and 50% increase in LGD, expected credit rating below B (low) (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD and 25% increase in LGD, expected credit rating below B (low) (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD and 50% increase in LGD, expected credit rating below B (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://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: Pascale Kallas, Senior Analyst
Rating Committee Chair: Alfonso Candelas, Senior Vice President
Initial Credit Rating Date: 30 June 2021

DBRS Ratings GmbH
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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.

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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