London, 12 April 2011 -- Moody's Investors Service has assigned a definitive long term rating Aaa
to the following series of covered bonds issued by Nordea Eiendomskreditt
(the issuer) under the Norwegian covered bond legislation pursuant to
a U.S.$10,000,000,000 U.S.
Covered Bond Program:
- U.S.$1,000,000,000 Floating
Rate Covered Bonds due 2014: Aaa; new rating
- U.S.$1,000,000,000 1.875%
Covered Bonds due 2014: Aaa; new rating
RATINGS RATIONALE
As with all covered bonds, the covered bonds benefit from two layers
of protection by having recourse to both the issuer and a collateral pool.
The rating therefore takes into account the following factors:
1) The credit strength of the issuer, which is linked to the credit
strength of Nordea Bank Norge ASA (Aa2/P-1).
2) The value of the cover pool. The covered bonds are backed by
residential mortgage loans.
Other key factors:
3) The issuer maintaining, on an "uncommitted" basis,
minimum over-collateralisation consistent with the covered bond
rating. The current minimum is 4%. Actual over-collateralisation
is 30.8% (as of 31/12/10).
4) The Norwegian legal framework for covered bonds, as the covered
bonds are governed by the Norwegian covered bond law.
Moody's has assigned a Timely Payment Indicator (TPI) of "Probable"
to the covered bonds.
The ratings assigned by Moody's addresses the expected loss posed
to investors. Moody's ratings address only the credit risks
associated with the transaction. Other non-credit risks
have not been addressed, but may have a significant effect on yield
to investors.
The Aaa rating assigned to the issuer's existing covered bonds is
expected to be assigned to all subsequent covered bonds issued by the
issuer under this programme and any future rating actions are expected
to affect all such covered bonds. Should there be any exceptions
to this, Moody's will in each case publish details in a separate
press release.
KEY RATING ASSUMPTIONS/FACTORS
Covered bond ratings are determined after applying a two-step process:
expected loss analysis and TPI framework analysis.
EXPECTED LOSS: Moody's determines a rating based on the expected
loss on the bond. The primary model used is Moody's Covered
Bond Model (COBOL) which determines expected loss as a function of the
issuer's probability of default, measured by reference to
Nordea Bank Norge's rating of Aa2, and the stressed losses
on the cover pool assets following issuer default.
The Cover Pool Losses for this programme are 13.93%.
This is an estimate of the losses Moody's currently models in the
event of issuer default. Cover Pool Losses can be split between
Market Risk of 10.79% and Collateral Risk of 3.14%.
Market Risk measures losses as a result of refinancing risk and risks
related to interest rate and currency mismatches (these losses may also
include certain legal risks). Collateral Risk measures losses resulting
directly from the credit quality of the assets in the cover pool.
Collateral Risk is derived from the Collateral Score which for this programme
is currently 4.68%.
TPI FRAMEWORK: Moody's assigns a "timely payment indicator"
(TPI) which indicates the likelihood that timely payment will be made
to covered bondholders following issuer default. The effect of
the TPI framework is to limit the covered bond rating to a certain number
of notches above the issuer's rating.
SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS
The robustness of a covered bond rating largely depends on the credit
strength of the issuer.
The number of notches by which the issuer's rating may be downgraded
before the covered bonds are downgraded under the TPI framework is measured
by the TPI Leeway. Based on the current TPI of Probable the TPI
Leeway for this programme is four notches, meaning the issuer rating
would need to be downgraded to Baa1 before the covered bonds are downgraded,
all other things being equal.
A multiple notch downgrade of the covered bonds might occur in certain
limited circumstances. Some examples might be (a) a sovereign downgrade
negatively affecting both the issuer's senior unsecured rating and
the TPI; (b) a multiple notch downgrade of the issuer; or (c)
a material reduction of the value of the cover pool.
For further details on Cover Pool Losses, Collateral Risk,
Market Risk, Collateral Score and TPI Leeway across all covered
bond programmes rated by Moody's please refer to "Moody's
EMEA Covered Bonds Monitoring Overview", published quarterly.
Unless otherwise stated these figures are based on Moody's most
recent modelling of the transaction and are subject to change over time.
RATING METHODOLOGY
The principal methodology used in rating the issuer's covered bonds
is Moody's Rating Approach to Covered Bonds published in March 2010.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
Information sources used to prepare the credit rating are the following:
parties involved in the ratings, parties not involved in the ratings,
public information and confidential and proprietary Moody's Investors
Service information.
Moody's Investors Service considers the quality of information available
on the issuer or obligation satisfactory for the purposes of maintaining
a credit rating.
The rating has been disclosed to the rated entity or its designated agents
and issued with no amendment resulting from that disclosure.
Moody's Investors Service may have provided Ancillary or Other Permissible
Service(s) to the rated entity or its related third parties within the
three years preceding the Credit Rating Action. Please see the
ratings disclosure page www.moodys.com/disclosures on our
website for further information.
Moody's adopts all necessary measures so that the information it uses
in assigning a credit rating is of sufficient quality and from sources
Moody's considers to be reliable including, when appropriate,
independent third-party sources. However, Moody's
is not an auditor and cannot in every instance independently verify or
validate information received in the rating process.
Please see ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on Moodys.com
for the last rating action and the rating history.
The date on which some Credit Ratings were first released goes back to
a time before Moody's Investors Service's Credit Ratings were fully digitized
and accurate data may not be available. Consequently, Moody's
Investors Service provides a date that it believes is the most reliable
and accurate based on the information that is available to it.
Please see the ratings disclosure page on our website www.moodys.com
for further information.
Please see the Credit Policy page on Moodys.com for the methodologies
used in determining ratings, further information on the meaning
of each rating category and the definition of default and recovery.
London
Jane Soldera
VP - Senior Credit Officer
Structured Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service Ltd.
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Madrid
Juan Pablo Soriano
MD - Structured Finance
Structured Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service Espana, S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Moody's Investors Service Ltd.
One Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London E14 5FA
United Kingdom
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Moody's assigns definitive rating to covered bonds issued by Nordea Eiendomskreditt
