London, 25 March 2014 -- Moody's Investors Service has today downgraded to Aa1 from Aaa on review
for downgrade the ratings of the regulated covered bonds issued by Clydesdale
Bank plc (Clydesdale; deposits Baa2 stable, standalone bank
financial strength rating D+/adjusted baseline credit assessment
baa2). Today's action concludes the review initiated by Moody's
on 9 September 2013.
RATINGS RATIONALE
Today's rating action is prompted by (1) Moody's downgrade on 23
August 2013 of Clydesdale's deposit rating to Baa2 from A2, (2)
the rating cap derived from Moody's timely payment indicator (TPI)
framework and (3) Moody's conclusion that structural changes proposed
by Clydesdale are not sufficient to mitigate the higher probability that
Clydesdale will cease making payments under the covered bond programme.
As a result and given that Clydesdale's debt ratio is between 5%
and 10%, Moody's reference point for determining the
probability that Clydesdale will cease making payments under the covered
bond programme, the covered bond (CB) anchor, is now the deposit
rating plus 1 notch.
Given the deposit rating at Baa2, the CB anchor at deposit rating
+1 and the TPI assigned to this transaction at "Probable",
Moody's TPI framework constrains the ratings of Clydesdale's covered
bonds at Aa1.
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 issuer
default.
The cover pool losses for each programme is an estimate of the losses
Moody's currently models if a CB anchor event occurs. Moody's
splits cover pool losses between market risks and collateral risks.
Market risks measure losses stemming from refinancing risks and risks
related to interest rate and currency mismatches. These losses
may also include certain legal risks. Collateral risks measure
losses resulting directly from cover pool assets' credit quality.
Moody's derives the collateral risk from the collateral score.
The cover pool losses for this programme stand at 22.1%,
with market risk of 16.7% and collateral risk of 5.4%.
The collateral score is 5.4%. The over-collateralisation
(OC) in the cover pool is 101.7%, of which 25.8%
is on a committed basis. The minimum OC level that is consistent
with the Aa1 rating is 13.5%. These numbers demonstrate
that Moody's is not relying on uncommitted OC in its expected loss analysis.
All numbers in this section derive from Moody's most recent modelling,
based on data as per 30 September 2013. 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.
TPI FRAMEWORK: Moody's assigns a TPI, which indicates the
likelihood that the issuer will make timely payments to covered bondholders
in the event of an issuer default. The TPI framework limits the
covered bond rating to a certain number of notches above the CB anchor.
For this programme, Moody's has assigned a TPI of "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. 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 if Moody's lowers
the CB anchor, the rating agency might also downgrade the covered
bonds because of a TPI cap, 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
lowering 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.
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.
Elise Lucotte
Vice President - Senior Analyst
Structured Finance Group
Moody's France SAS
96 Boulevard Haussmann
Paris 75008
France
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
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Juan Pablo Soriano
MD - Structured Finance
Structured Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
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Moody's downgrades Clydesdale's covered bond ratings to Aa1