Capital Relief Trades
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SRTs unlocked
BMO launches capital relief trade
Bank of Montreal has finalised a US$132m five-year financial guarantee dubbed Manitoulin Muskoka Series 2020-1. The trade is the first transaction to close in the SRT space following the coronavirus outbreak.
The portfolio is believed to reference mid-market corporate loans, which wouldn’t be the first time BMO ventured into the asset class, after expanding its exposure to it .......
News 15 May 2020
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TALF CLO rules clarified
Sector developments and company hires
TALF CLO rules clarified
Market Moves 13 May 2020
The US Federal Reserve has clarified its CLO eligibility rules for TALF. It defines its stipulation that all or substantially all of the leveraged loans underlying CLOs must have been “newly issued” as those originated or refinanced on or after 1 January 2019. The Fed also announced additional CLO portfolio requirements: maximum second lien loan concentration .......
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Risk transfer round-up - 13 May
CRT sector developments and deal news
Bank of Montreal is rumoured to be prepping a corporate loan capital relief trade for 3Q20. The lender’s last risk transfer trade was completed in January and was called Manitoulin Algonquin 2020-1 (see SCI’s capital relief trades database).
....... News 13 May 2020
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SFSF investments disclosed
Sector developments and company hires
SFSF investments disclosed
Market Moves 12 May 2020
The AOFM has disclosed the recent investments it has made under the Structured Finance Support Fund. In the primary market, the fund was the sole third-party investor in the A2 tranches of FirstMac 2020-1 (it also invested in the A1 through D tranches) and Liberty Series 2020-1 on 27 March and 8 May respectively. It has also .......
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Drafting issues
Assia Damianova, special counsel at Cadwalader, Wickersham &...
CRTs typically consist of a credit transfer instrument entered into between the credit institution and an SPV, with notes issued by the SPV to investors, the payments in respect of which are linked to payments on the credit transfer instrument. Most CRTs use a financial guarantee (“FG”) as the credit transfer instrument (instead of a CDS that requires daily .......
Talking Point 11 May 2020
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EC decision awaited
Preferential capital treatment mooted for STS synthetics
The EBA’s framework for STS synthetic securitisations (SCI 6 May) is broadly in line with those of the discussion paper that was published in September 2019 (SCI 25 September 2019). Notably, the authority seems to endorse preferential capital treatment for such transactions, subject to certain conditions - albeit the final decision on this now rests with the .......
News Analysis 7 May 2020
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CRM tool
CBILS guarantees eligible for CRR recognition
The UK PRA published at the end of April a statement clarifying whether Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS) guarantees are eligible for recognition as unfunded credit risk mitigation (CRM) under the CRR. The move is seen as a helpful step towards motivating banks to lend under the schemes.
“It’s a tough .......
News 7 May 2020
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Risk transfer round-up - 7 May
CRT sector developments and deal news
BBVA is rumoured to be readying a capital relief trade for 2Q20. The lender has completed a total of three risk transfer trades since 2017 and all of them have been in conjunction with the EIF (see SCI’s capital relief trades database).
....... News 7 May 2020
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STS synthetics proposals published
Sector developments and company hires
STS synthetics proposals published
Market Moves 6 May 2020
The EBA has published its proposals for developing an STS framework for synthetic balance-sheet securitisations, which includes the criteria to be considered when labelling a transaction as ‘STS' and provides the pros and cons of a potentially differentiated capital treatment for this type of securitisation. Among the proposed STS criteria are requirements on simplicity, standardisation and transparency .......
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Romanian SRT inked
Uncapped guarantee completed
The EIF and nine Romanian banks have completed an uncapped guarantee agreement from the SIUGI programme that covers 60% of a €1.368bn portfolio of Romanian SME credit rights. The banks originating the SME credit rights under this initiative are Banca Transilvania, Banca Comercial Romana, BRD – Group Societe Generale, ING Romania, ProCredit, Raiffeisen Bank Romania, Libra Internet Bank, UniCredit .......
News 5 May 2020
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Ratings resilience
Shorter pro-rata periods to benefit SRTs
A sharp deterioration in asset performance due to the coronavirus fall-out may lead to sequential pay triggers in predominantly pro-rata paying significant risk transfer deals being breached earlier than initially assumed. Shortened pro-rata periods may, in turn, increase the resilience of note ratings to declining asset performance and the associated upward revision of default base cases.
As part .......
News 5 May 2020
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WAM guidelines finalised
Sector developments and company hires
WAM guidelines finalised
Market Moves 4 May 2020
The EBA has published its final guidelines on the determination of the weighted average maturity (WAM) of the contractual payments due under the tranche of a securitisation transaction, as laid down in the CRR. These guidelines aim at ensuring that the methodology applicable for the determination of the WAM for regulatory purposes is sufficiently transparent and harmonised .......
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CRT vol aims for the stars
No longer staid and dependable, the CRT market is at record-breaking volatility
Despite a levelling out in April, volatility in the credit risk transfer market remains extremely elevated, particularly in the context of an asset class that hitherto has demonstrated very little volatility at all.
Annualised vol for the CRT sector was 13.06% at the end of April, according to data produced by Mark Fontanilla and Co, a Charlotte, North .......
News Analysis 2 May 2020
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Risk transfer round-up - 1 May
CRT sector developments and deal news
Deutsche Bank is rumoured to be readying a large corporate capital relief trade for 2Q20. The bank’s last transaction was completed in January. Dubbed CRAFT 2020-1, the US$150m CLN paid Libor plus 9.5% (see SCI’s capital relief trades database).
....... News 1 May 2020
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Landmark guidance
Implicit support guidelines published
The EBA has published landmark implicit support guidelines as part of its post-coronavirus interventions. According to the paper, banks postponing or reducing payments due to payment moratoria wouldn’t automatically be regarded as providing implicit support, since - by definition - such moratoria are not aimed at reducing any actual or potential losses to investors. Nevertheless, banks will still have .......
News Analysis 1 May 2020
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Prudential flexibility reiterated
Sector developments and company hires
Prudential flexibility reiterated
Market Moves 29 April 2020
The European Commission has adopted a package to help facilitate bank lending to households and businesses throughout the European Union that includes an Interpretative Communication on the EU's accounting and prudential frameworks, as well as targeted ‘quick fix’ amendments to the CRR, in order to maximise the ability of banks to lend and absorb losses related to .......
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Opportunistic buying
Covid-19 kicks off secondary SRT market
Capital relief trade secondary market activity has received a boost from the coronavirus fallout as primary issuance remains largely on hold until the second half of the year. The trend is driven by a variety of factors, including opportunistic buying and portfolio rebalancing (SCI 15 April).
“The secondary SRT market was similar to other fixed income markets. .......
News Analysis 28 April 2020
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Recovery boost
Weatherford revolvers fully repay amid negative outlook
A new case study from SCI has revealed that oil and gas firm Weatherford International is referenced in a capital relief trade following the company’s successful emergence from bankruptcy in December 2019. The revolvers that backed the SRT deal have fully recovered after the chapter 11 restructuring, although the factors that led the company into bankruptcy - including low .......
News Analysis 24 April 2020
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Forbearance risks
Pre-2015 GSE deals could suffer losses
As the coronavirus spreads and servicers offer mortgage forbearance plans to struggling obligors, certain pre-2015 credit risk transfer (CRT) fixed severity deals are set to sustain losses without action from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In contrast, actual loss CRT deals do not automatically suffer losses from credit events, but are exposed to risks from rate reductions, permanent principal .......
News 17 April 2020
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Discounted opportunities
Insurers target SRT secondary market
Insurers are now targeting the capital relief trades secondary market in search of discounted opportunities with an attractive risk profile following the coronavirus crisis. Secondary trades offer diversification and an existing track record of performance, although insurers are primarily eyeing mezzanine and senior tranches jointly with hedge funds, who will be in a position to gain junior exposure.
News 16 April 2020
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Bilateral activity
Opportunistic capital redeployment underway
The European ABS market appears poised to diverge between central bank-eligible issuance and opportunistic capital. Risk-off sentiment dominates, but pockets of bilateral activity are occurring.
“It's an interesting market at the moment. But quite different to the early global financial crisis in that because the central banks reacted so quickly and strongly, there is a sense that some .......
News Analysis 15 April 2020