Frankfurt am Main, February 16, 2015 -- Moody's Investors Service has confirmed the Aa3 ratings of the covered
bonds issued by Unione di Banche Italiane S.c.p.A.
(UBI Banca, deposits Baa3 negative; bank financial strength
rating D+ stable /adjusted baseline credit assessment ba1) under
its Italian mortgage covered bond programme. This rating action
concludes the review of the above ratings, initiated on 21 January
2015.
RATINGS RATIONALE
Today's rating action reflects the confirmation by the issuer not
to increase the level of committed over-collateralisation (OC)
for the covered bond programme. After Moody's raised to Aa2
from A2 the local-currency country ceiling of Italy (Baa2 stable)
on 20 January 2015, Moody's upgraded UBI Banca's covered
bond ratings to Aa3 from A2 and placed the ratings on review for upgrade
because an Aa2 rating was then achievable, albeit with a higher
level of committed OC.
KEY RATING ASSUMPTIONS/FACTORS
Moody's determines covered bond ratings using a two-step
process: an expected loss analysis and a TPI framework analysis.
EXPECTED LOSS: Moody's uses its Covered Bond Model (COBOL)
to determine a rating based on the expected loss on the bond. COBOL
determines expected loss as (1) a function of the probability that the
issuer will cease making payments under the covered bonds (a CB anchor
event); and (2) the stressed losses on the cover pool assets following
a CB anchor event.
The CB anchor for this programme is the senior unsecured rating (SUR)
plus one notch, given that the debt ratio is above 10%.
The cover pool losses for UBI Banca's mortgage covered bonds are
24.3%. This is an estimate of the losses Moody's
currently models following a CB anchor event. Moody's splits
cover pool losses between market risk of 16.7% and collateral
risk of 7.7%. Market risk measures losses stemming
from 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 cover pool assets'
credit quality. Moody's derives collateral risk from the
collateral score, which for this programme is currently 11.4%.
The OC in the cover pool is 57.8 %, of which UBI Banca
provides 7.5% on a "committed" basis.
The minimum OC level consistent with the Aa3 rating target is 11.0%,
of which the issuer should provide 6% in a "committed"
form. These numbers show that Moody's is relying on "uncommitted"
OC in its expected loss analysis.
All numbers in this section are based on the most recent Performance Overview
/ Moody's most recent modelling (based on data as of 30 September
2014).
For further details on cover pool losses, collateral risk,
market risk, collateral score and TPI Leeway across covered bond
programmes rated by Moody's please refer to "Moody's Global Covered Bonds
Monitoring Overview", published quarterly.
TPI FRAMEWORK: Moody's assigns a "timely payment indicator"
(TPI), which measures the likelihood of timely payments to covered
bondholders following a CB anchor event. The TPI framework limits
the covered bond rating to a certain number of notches above the CB anchor.
For UBI Banca's mortgage covered bonds, Moody's assigned TPI
remains "Probable".
FACTORS THAT WOULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATING:
The CB anchor is the main determinant of a covered bond programme's rating
robustness. A change in the level of the CB anchor could lead to
an upgrade or downgrade of the covered bonds. The TPI Leeway measures
the number of notches by which Moody's might lower the CB anchor before
the rating agency downgrades the covered bonds because of TPI framework
constraints.
Based on the current TPI of "Probable", the TPI Leeway
for this programme is zero notches. This implies that Moody's
might downgrade the covered bonds because of a TPI cap, if it lowers
the CB anchor by one notch, all other variables being equal.
A multiple-notch downgrade of the covered bonds might occur in
certain limited circumstances, such as (1) a sovereign downgrade
negatively affecting both the CB anchor and the TPI; (2) a multiple-notch
downgrade of the CB anchor; or (3) a material reduction of the value
of the cover pool.
RATING METHODOLOGY
The principal methodology used in this rating was "Moody's
Approach to Rating Covered Bonds" published in March 2014.
Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com for
a copy of this methodology.
We published a Request for Comment (RFC) on 8 January 2015. In
the RFC, we propose an adjustment to the anchor point we use in
our covered bond analysis. The proposed changes in this RFC apply
to all new and existing ratings for covered bonds. If we adopt
the proposed changes, we expect more covered bond ratings to be
positively affected than negatively affected. However, in
light of the banking RFC (see RFC published on 9 September 2014 by our
Banking group) and the CR rating RFC , measure (see RFC published
on 8 January 2015 by our Banking group) we are not in a position to fully
assess and disclose the exact impact of the proposed changes to our covered
bond methodology https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBS_SF390257.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For further specification of Moody's key rating assumptions and sensitivity
analysis, see the sections Methodology Assumptions and Sensitivity
to Assumptions of the disclosure form.
Moody's did not use any stress scenario simulations in its analysis.
For ratings issued on a program, series or category/class of debt,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the same series
or category/class of debt or pursuant to a program for which the ratings
are derived exclusively from existing ratings in accordance with Moody's
rating practices. For ratings issued on a support provider,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to the rating action on the support provider and in relation to each particular
rating action for securities that derive their credit ratings from the
support provider's credit rating. For provisional ratings,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to the provisional rating assigned, and in relation to a definitive
rating that may be assigned subsequent to the final issuance of the debt,
in each case where the transaction structure and terms have not changed
prior to the assignment of the definitive rating in a manner that would
have affected the rating. For further information please see the
ratings tab on the issuer/entity page for the respective issuer on www.moodys.com.
For any affected securities or rated entities receiving direct credit
support from the primary entity(ies) of this rating action, and
whose ratings may change as a result of this rating action, the
associated regulatory disclosures will be those of the guarantor entity.
Exceptions to this approach exist for the following disclosures,
if applicable to jurisdiction: Ancillary Services, Disclosure
to rated entity, Disclosure from rated entity.
Regulatory disclosures contained in this press release apply to the credit
rating and, if applicable, the related rating outlook or rating
review.
Please see www.moodys.com for any updates on changes to
the lead rating analyst and to the Moody's legal entity that has issued
the rating.
Please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for additional regulatory disclosures for each credit rating.
Martin Lenhard
Vice President - Senior Analyst
Structured Finance Group
Moody's Deutschland GmbH
An der Welle 5
Frankfurt am Main 60322
Germany
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Juan Pablo Soriano
MD - Structured Finance
Structured Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Releasing Office:
Moody's Deutschland GmbH
An der Welle 5
Frankfurt am Main 60322
Germany
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Moody's confirms Aa3 ratings of UBI Banca's covered bonds