London, 21 December 2012 -- Moody's Investors Service has placed on review for downgrade one note
in Gosforth Funding No.1 plc due to insufficient back-up
servicing arrangements.
All notes affected by today's rating action are listed before the
Regulatory Disclosures of this press release.
Moody's continues the review for downgrade of three notes in Gosforth
Funding 2011-1 also because of insufficient back-up servicing
arrangements. Moody's had initially placed on review the
notes in Gosforth Funding 2011-1 on the 3rd July 2012 following
the downgrade of National Westminster Bank plc (A3/P-2) acting
as Issuer Account Bank. On the 10th of August the issuer account
bank has been transferred to Barclays Bank plc (A2/P-1)
RATINGS RATIONALE
Today's rating action takes into account the payment disruption
risk due to insufficient back up servicing and back up cash manager arrangements.
Virgin Money Plc, not rated by Moody's, acts as primary
servicer and cash manager in both transactions. Despite fully funded
reserve funds and adequate liquidity in both transaction, absence
of (i) a back-up servicer and back up cash manager and (ii) estimation
language in the transaction documents to ensure continuity of payments
in case of servicer or back up servicer disruption, may not be commensurate
with servicing arrangements required to achieve a Aaa (sf) rating.
Moody's also believes that this risk is further exacerbated in Gosforth
Funding 2011-1 where tranche A1b is denominated in another currency
and exposed to an FX swap provided by Deutsche Bank AG (A2 / P-1).
A failure to provide the swap counterparties with timely information,
particularly in regard to principal payments, could lead to a termination
event under the swap documentation.
-- OTHER DEVELOPMENTS MAY NEGATIVELY AFFECT THE NOTES
As the euro area crisis continues, the ratings of structured finance
notes remain exposed to the uncertainties of credit conditions in the
general economy. The deteriorating creditworthiness of euro area
sovereigns as well as the weakening credit profile of the global banking
sector could negatively affect the ratings of the notes.
Key modeling assumptions, sensitivities, cash-flow
analysis and stress scenarios for the affected transactions have not been
updated as the rating action has been primarily driven by the assessment
of counterparty exposure.
PRINCIPAL METHODOLOGY
The principal methodology used in this rating was Moody's Approach to
Rating RMBS in Europe, Middle East, and Africa published in
June 2012. Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of this methodology.
Other Factors used in this rating are described in Global Structured Finance
Operational Risk Guidelines: Moody's Approach to Analyzing Performance
Disruption Risk published in June 2011.
LIST OF AFFECTED SECURITIES
Issuer: Gosforth Funding No.1 plc
....GBP500M A4 Notes, Aaa (sf) Placed
Under Review for Possible Downgrade; previously on Jan 27,
2010 Assigned Aaa (sf)
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For ratings issued on a program, series or category/class of debt,
this announcement provides relevant 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 relevant 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 relevant 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.
The rating has been disclosed to the rated entity or its designated agent(s)
and issued with amendment resulting from that disclosure.
Information sources used to prepare the rating are the following:
parties involved in the ratings, public information, and confidential
and proprietary Moody's Investors Service information.
Moody's did not receive or take into account a third-party
assessment on the due diligence performed regarding the underlying assets
or financial instruments related to the monitoring of this transaction
in the past six months.
Moody's considers the quality of information available on the rated
entity, obligation or credit satisfactory for the purposes of issuing
this review.
Moody's adopts all necessary measures so that the information it
uses in assigning a 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.
Moody's Investors Service may have provided Ancillary or Other Permissible
Service(s) to the rated entity or its related third parties within the
two years preceding the credit rating action. Please see the special
report "Ancillary or other permissible services provided to entities
rated by MIS's EU credit rating agencies" on the ratings disclosure
page on our website www.moodys.com for further information.
Please see the ratings disclosure page on www.moodys.com
for general disclosure on potential conflicts of interests.
Please see the ratings disclosure page on www.moodys.com
for information on (A) MCO's major shareholders (above 5%)
and for (B) further information regarding certain affiliations that may
exist between directors of MCO and rated entities as well as (C) the names
of entities that hold ratings from MIS that have also publicly reported
to the SEC an ownership interest in MCO of more than 5%.
A member of the board of directors of this rated entity may also be a
member of the board of directors of a shareholder of Moody's Corporation;
however, Moody's has not independently verified this matter.
Please see Moody's Rating Symbols and Definitions on the Rating
Process page on www.moodys.com for further information on
the meaning of each rating category and the definition of default and
recovery.
Please see ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for the last rating action and the rating history. The date on
which some ratings were first released goes back to a time before Moody's
ratings were fully digitized and accurate data may not be available.
Consequently, Moody's 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 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.
Maria Divid
Analyst
Structured Finance Group
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
Barbara Rismondo
Senior Vice President
Structured Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Marcello Vicarelli
Analyst
Structured Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Releasing Office:
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 places on review for downgrade one UK RMBS note issued by Gosforth Funding No.1 plc