Approximately EUR 9.7 billion of debt securities affected
London, 14 October 2010 -- Moody's Investors Service has today placed on review for possible downgrade
ratings on 7 Irish residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS).
A complete list of all 15 affected tranches placed on review for downgrade
can be found at the end of this press release.
This rating review follows Moody's decision on 5 October 2010 to place
the Aa2 government bond rating on review for possible downgrade as well
as the ratings of some of the Irish banks on October 6. The sovereign
rating action was prompted by the crystallisation of additional bank contingent
liabilities, the increased uncertainty regarding the economic outlook
and the government's elevated borrowing costs.
Ratings of senior and junior notes in 9 additional Irish RMBS are already
under review for possible downgrade since last July. The completion
of Moody's rating review of the Irish RMBS will be driven by the conclusion
of the ongoing review of Ireland's sovereign and bank ratings as well
as Moody's revised assumptions on future performance of RMBS portfolios
in the context of greater uncertainty of the economic outlook in Ireland.
High Ratings Can be Maintained in Structures Designed for Severe Stress
Scenarios
Moody's rates transactions to the highest rating levels only if their
structural features, including credit enhancement, mitigants
to operational risk, and liquidity support, are sufficient
to withstand extreme scenarios. Irish RMBS could still maintain
ratings in the Aaa and Aa categories if the transactions can survive stresses
to collateral performance and counterparty downgrades.
Credit Enhancement Stress Scenarios
In placing on review senior ratings of some Irish RMBS, Moody's
considered the likely performance of the transactions in the context of
high stress scenarios that assume various combinations such as a possible
restructuring of the government's debt, a banking system crisis,
and a more severe version of the required austerity measures. Moody's
will ultimately determine a probability for these extreme scenarios in
line with the outcome of the Irish government and bank rating reviews.
Irish Prime RMBS that have credit enhancement levels above 20-25%
have not been placed on review, as Moody's believes that the
expected performance of these pools under such stressed scenarios is consistent
with a Aaa rating. Additionally some Aaa notes have not been placed
on review for downgrade in consideration of their short remaining life.
Revision of Expected Losses
Moody's will review lifetime loss expectation for some Irish RMBS
to reflect the collateral performance to date as well as its negative
outlook for the Irish housing market. Moody's updates of
expected loss on the pools will also impact the mezzanine and junior note
ratings of Irish RMBS. The current expected loss assumption for
prime pools average 1.5% of original balance -- but
with disparities amongst transactions. Moody's noted that
performance measured in late delinquency buckets continues to deteriorate
in many Irish transactions: as of August 2010, 4.8%
of Prime Irish RMBS portfolios were more than 90 days delinquent versus
4.1% as of last May. Moody's will publish Irish
RMBS Index information later this week. The total peak-to-through
decline in housing prices is anticipated to be 45%, thereby
leaving housing prices back at 2001 levels. Most Irish RMBS pools
have a significant portion of loans currently in negative equity.
Operational Risk and Liquidity
Given the ongoing review for possible downgrade of the Irish banks' senior
debt ratings, Moody's will also consider the impact of bank downgrades
on a transaction for which one of those banks is a key party. Risk
of a payment disruption on RMBS may arise if a key party fails to perform
its role, including servicing, cash management, or acting
as hedge counterparty or liquidity provider to the transaction.
Our review will include an assessment of the structural features that
mitigate the exposure to these banks.
LIST OF RATING ACTIONS
Issuer: Celtic Residential Irish Mortgage Securitisation No.12
Ltd.
....EUR1010.685M A3 Notes, Aa2
(sf) Placed Under Review for Possible Downgrade; previously on Aug
12, 2010 Downgraded to Aa2 (sf)
Issuer: Celtic Residential Irish Mortgage Securitisation No.
13 Ltd
....EUR538.95M A2 Certificate,
Aaa (sf) Placed Under Review for Possible Downgrade; previously on
Dec 18, 2007 Definitive Rating Assigned Aaa (sf)
Issuer: Emerald Mortgages No.5 Limited
....EUR2375M A Notes, Aaa (sf) Placed
Under Review for Possible Downgrade; previously on Mar 20,
2008 Assigned Aaa (sf)
....EUR125M B Notes, Baa3 (sf) Placed
Under Review for Possible Downgrade; previously on May 27,
2010 Downgraded to Baa3 (sf)
Issuer: Fastnet Securities 2 PLC
....EUR1656M A2 Certificate, Aaa (sf)
Placed Under Review for Possible Downgrade; previously on Jul 5,
2006 Definitive Rating Assigned Aaa (sf)
....EUR50M B Certificate, Aa3 (sf) Placed
Under Review for Possible Downgrade; previously on Jul 5, 2006
Definitive Rating Assigned Aa3 (sf)
....EUR44M C Certificate, A2 (sf) Placed
Under Review for Possible Downgrade; previously on Mar 30,
2010 Confirmed at A2 (sf)
....EUR56M D Certificate, Baa2 (sf)
Placed Under Review for Possible Downgrade; previously on Mar 30,
2010 Confirmed at Baa2 (sf)
Issuer: Kildare Securities limited
....US$1451.6M A2 Notes,
Aaa (sf) Placed Under Review for Possible Downgrade; previously on
Mar 1, 2007 Definitive Rating Assigned Aaa (sf)
....EUR1062M A3 Notes, Aaa (sf) Placed
Under Review for Possible Downgrade; previously on Mar 1, 2007
Definitive Rating Assigned Aaa (sf)
....EUR96.8M B Notes, Aa3 (sf)
Placed Under Review for Possible Downgrade; previously on Mar 1,
2007 Definitive Rating Assigned Aa3 (sf)
....EUR90.6M C Notes, Baa2 (sf)
Placed Under Review for Possible Downgrade; previously on Sep 18,
2009 Downgraded to Baa2 (sf)
....EUR26.55M D Notes, Ba3 (sf)
Placed Under Review for Possible Downgrade; previously on Sep 18,
2009 Downgraded to Ba3 (sf)
Issuer: Phoenix Funding 3 Limited
....EUR3040M A Notes, Aa1 (sf) Placed
Under Review for Possible Downgrade; previously on Sep 1, 2010
Downgraded to Aa1 (sf)
Issuer: Phoenix Funding 4 Limited
....EUR748M A Notes, Aaa (sf) Placed
Under Review for Possible Downgrade; previously on Aug 5, 2009
Assigned Aaa (sf)
All principal methodologies that Moody's applies when rating structured
finance transactions are available on www.moodys.com in
the Rating Methodologies sub-directory under the Research &
Ratings tab. Other methodologies and factors that may have been
considered in the process of rating these transactions can also be found
in this Rating Methodologies sub-directory. In addition,
Moody's publishes a weekly summary of structured finance credit,
ratings and methodologies, available to all registered users of
our website, at www.moodys.com/SFQuickCheck.
For further information, please visit our website directly or contact
Moody's Client Service Desk (+44 20) 7772 5454.
London
Carole Bernard
Asst Vice President - Analyst
Structured Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service Ltd.
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Paris
Annick Poulain
MD - Structured Finance
Structured Finance Group
Moody's France SAS
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
Moody's reviews some Irish RMBS ratings