London, 14 November 2012 -- Moody's Investors Service has today placed on review for downgrade the
ratings of Aaa (sf) and Aa (sf)-rated residential mortgage-backed
securities (RMBS) that have increased counterparty risk arising from (1)
indirect linkages to issuer account banks that were downgraded below Prime-1
during Q2 2012; and (2) the lack of structural protection to reduce
their linkages to these downgraded banks. Today's rating announcement
affects 38 tranches in 20 RMBS transactions.
Please click on this link http://www.moodys.com/viewresearchdoc.aspx?docid=PBS_SF306978
for the List of Affected Credit Ratings. This list is an integral
part of this Press Release and identifies each affected issuer.
This follows Moody's earlier announcement "Impact of bank credit
deterioration on structured finance will vary with degree of bank exposure",
which was published on 15 May 2012.
RATINGS RATIONALE
Today's rating announcement reflects Moody's assessment that the
exposure of RMBS tranches to certain financial institutions acting as
issuer account banks is most likely no longer compatible with the outstanding
ratings of those highly rated tranches. In the RMBS affected by
today's downgrades, the issuer account bank was downgraded
by Moody's several months ago and since then no replacement has
been nominated. The review is focused on the highest rated securities
in these transactions that have a substantial amount of cash exposed to
weaker issuer account banks. These are transactions in which a
substantial portion of the credit enhancement, arising from either
principal collections or a reserve fund, is deposited in issuer
accounts before being paid to investors.
Specifically, Moody's placed on review (1) the Aaa (sf)-rated
securities exposed to issuer account banks rated below A1 or Prime-1;
and (2) the Aa (sf)-rated securities exposed to issuer account
banks rated below A2 and Prime-1 in line with Moody's current
rating criteria for issuer account banks. Furthermore, for
Aa3 (sf)-rated securities, Moody's also considered
the credit enhancement available to protect against a default of an issuer
account bank. The rating agency did not place on review the Aa3
(sf)-rated notes that benefited from a relatively large source
of credit enhancement outside of the reserve fund.
If effective protections mechanisms are implemented the affected ratings
may be confirmed subject to Moody's satisfactory review.
Moody's current criteria for rating Aaa and Aa-rated securities
are detailed in the rating guidance entitled "The Temporary Use of Cash
In Structured Transactions: Eligible Investment Guidelines",
published in December 2008.
FOCUS OF THE REVIEW
Moody's rating review will consider the magnitude of payment disruptions
in the event that the issuer account bank fails to meet its obligations,
as well as any effective protection mechanisms that may reduce this disruption.
Any negative rating action will reflect the magnitude of this payment
disruption, the counterparty rating and the rating of the exposed
security.
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS MAY NEGATIVELY AFFECT THE NOTES IN FUTURE
On 21 August 2012, Moody's released a Request for Comment seeking
market feedback on proposed adjustments to its modelling assumptions.
These adjustments are designed to account for the impact of rapid and
significant country credit deterioration on structured finance transactions.
If the adjusted approach is implemented as proposed, the rating
of the notes affected by today rating action may be negatively affected.
See "Approach to Assessing the Impact of a Rapid Country Credit Deterioration
on Structured Finance Transactions", (http://www.moodys.com/research/Approach-to-Assessing-the-Impact-of-a-Rapid-Country-Credit--PBS_SF294880)
for further details regarding the implications of the proposed methodology
changes on Moody's ratings.
An additional factor that may affect the resolution of these reviews is
the request for comment published on 2 July 2012, "The temporary
Use of Cash in Structured Finance Transactions: Eligible Investment
and Bank Guidelines".
Key modelling assumptions, sensitivities, cash-flow
analysis and stress scenarios for the affected transactions have not been
updated as the rating announcement has been primarily driven by the assessment
of counterparty exposure.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
Please click on this link http://www.moodys.com/viewresearchdoc.aspx?docid=PBS_SF306978
for the List of Affected Credit Ratings. This list is an integral
part of this Press Release and provides, for each of the credit
ratings covered, Moody's disclosures on the following items:
? Methodologies and Models used
? Person approving the credit rating
? Lead analyst
? Releasing office
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 ratings have been disclosed to the rated entities or their designated
agent(s) and issued with no amendment resulting from that disclosure.
Information sources used to prepare each of the ratings 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 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 these transactions in the past
six months.
Moody's considers the quality of information available on the rated
entities, obligations or credits satisfactory for the purposes of
issuing these reviews.
Moody's adopts all necessary measures so that the information it
uses in assigning the ratings 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 entities or their 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.
In addition to the information provided below please find on the ratings
tab of the issuer page at www.moodys.com, for each
of the ratings covered, Moody's disclosures on the lead rating
analyst and the Moody's legal entity that has issued each of the
ratings.
Panayiota Koulafetis
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
Annick Poulain
MD - Structured Finance
Structured Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Lyudmila Udot
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 reviews for downgrade European RMBS transactions with exposure to downgraded issuer account banks and lack of remedial actions