DBRS Confirms and Upgrades Ratings of Auto ABS Spanish Loans 2016, Fondo de Titulización

DBRS Ratings GmbH (DBRS) took the following rating actions on the Class A Notes and Class B Notes (together, the Rated Notes) issued by Auto ABS Spanish Loans 2016, Fondo de Titulización (the Issuer):

-- Class A Notes confirmed at AAA (sf)
-- Class B Notes upgraded to AA (high) (sf) from AA (low) (sf)

The rating actions follow an annual review of the transaction and are based on the following analytical considerations:
-- Portfolio performance, in terms of delinquencies, defaults and losses;
-- Probability of default (PD), loss given default (LGD) and expected loss assumptions on the remaining receivables;
-- Current available credit enhancement (CE) to the notes to cover the expected losses at their respective rating levels.

The ratings on the Rated Notes address the timely payment of interest and ultimate payment of principal on or before the final legal maturity date in September 2032.

The Issuer is a Spanish securitisation of auto loan receivables granted and serviced by PSA Financial Services Spain EFC S.A., a joint venture equally held by Banque PSA Finance and Santander Consumer Finance SA (SCF). The transaction closed in October 2016 and had an 18-month revolving period which ended in March 2018.

PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCE
As of the June 2019 payment date, loans that were one to two and two to three months delinquent represented 0.6% and 0.2% of the principal outstanding balance of the portfolio, respectively, while loans that were more than three months delinquent represented 0.1%. Gross cumulative defaults amounted to 0.3% of the aggregate original portfolio balance, with cumulative recoveries of 41.2% to date.

PORTFOLIO ASSUMPTIONS
DBRS conducted a loan-by-loan analysis of the remaining pool of receivables and has updated its base case PD and LGD assumptions to 2.7% and 52.3%, respectively, based on applicable updated performance data available from the originator.

CREDIT ENHANCEMENT
CE is provided by the subordination of the junior obligations and the cash reserve account. As of the June 2019 payment date, CE to the Class A Notes was 24.4%, up from 12.4% at the DBRS initial rating, while CE to the Class B Notes was 9.9%, up from 5.0% at the DBRS initial rating. Both the updated portfolio assumptions and increase in CE following the end of the revolving period prompted the rating upgrade on the Class B Notes.

The cash reserve is available to cover senior expenses and interest shortfalls on the Rated Notes. Since closing, this account has been funded with EUR 6.2 million and its target level is set at 1.7% of the aggregate balance of the Rated Notes and the Class C Notes, subject to a EUR 3.1 million floor.

SCF acts as the account bank for the transaction. Based on the DBRS private rating of SCF, the downgrade provisions outlined in the transaction documents, and other mitigating factors inherent in the transaction structure, DBRS considers the risk arising from the exposure to the account bank to be consistent with the rating assigned to the Class A Notes, as described in DBRS's "Legal Criteria for European Structured Finance Transactions" methodology.

ABN AMRO Bank N.V. (ABN) acts as the swap counterparty for the transaction. DBRS's public Long-Term Critical Obligations Rating of ABN at AA is consistent with the First Rating Threshold as described in DBRS's "Derivative Criteria for European Structured Finance Transactions" methodology.

The transaction structure was analysed in Intex DealMaker.

Notes:
All figures are in euros unless otherwise noted.

The principal methodology applicable to the ratings is the “Master European Structured Finance Surveillance Methodology”. DBRS has applied the principal methodology consistently and conducted a review of the transaction in accordance with the principal methodology.

A review of the transaction legal documents was not conducted as the legal documents have remained unchanged since the most recent rating action.

Other methodologies referenced in this transaction are listed at the end of this press release. These may be found on www.dbrs.com at: http://www.dbrs.com/about/methodologies.

For a more detailed discussion of the sovereign risk impact on Structured Finance ratings, please refer to “Appendix C: The Impact of Sovereign Ratings on Other DBRS Credit Ratings” of the “Rating Sovereign Governments” methodology at: http://dbrs.com/research/333487/rating-sovereign-governments.pdf.

The sources of data and information used for these ratings include investor reports provided by Titulizacion de Activos, S.G.F.T., S.A (the Management Company) and loan-level data provided by the European DataWarehouse GmbH.

DBRS did not rely upon third-party due diligence in order to conduct its analysis.

At the time of the initial rating, DBRS was supplied with third-party assessments. However, this did not impact the rating analysis.

DBRS considers the data and information available to it for the purposes of providing these ratings to be of satisfactory quality.

DBRS does not audit or independently verify the data or information it receives in connection with the rating process.

The last rating action on this transaction took place on 30 July 2018, when DBRS confirmed the rating of the Class A Notes at AAA (sf) and upgraded the rating of the Class B Notes to AA (low) (sf).

The lead analyst responsibilities for this transaction have been transferred to Daniel Rakhamimov.

Information regarding DBRS ratings, including definitions, policies and methodologies is available at www.dbrs.com.

To assess the impact of changing the transaction parameters on the rating, DBRS considered the following stress scenarios as compared with the parameters used to determine the rating (the Base Case):

-- DBRS expected a lifetime base case PD and LGD for the pool based on a review of the current assets. Adverse changes to asset performance may cause stresses to base case assumptions and therefore have a negative effect on credit ratings.
-- The base case PD and LGD of the current pool of loans for the Issuer are 2.7% and 52.3%, respectively.
-- The Risk Sensitivity overview below illustrates the ratings expected if the PD and LGD increase by a certain percentage over the base case assumption. For example, if the LGD increases by 50%, the rating of the Class A Notes would be expected to remain at AAA (sf), assuming no change in the PD. If the PD increases by 50%, the rating of the Class A Notes would be expected to remain at AAA (sf), assuming no change in the LGD. Furthermore, if both the PD and LGD increase by 50%, the rating of the Class A Notes would be expected to remain at AAA (sf).

Class A Notes Risk Sensitivity:
-- 25% increase in LGD, expected rating of AAA (sf)
-- 50% increase in LGD, expected rating of AAA (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD, expected rating of AAA (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD, expected rating of AAA (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD and 25% increase in LGD, expected rating of AAA (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD and 50% increase in LGD, expected rating of AAA (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD and 25% increase in LGD, expected rating of AAA (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD and 50% increase in LGD, expected rating of AAA (sf)

Class B Notes Risk Sensitivity:
-- 25% increase in LGD, expected rating of AA (high) (sf)
-- 50% increase in LGD, expected rating of AA (high) (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD, expected rating of AA (high) (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD, expected rating of AA (high) (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD and 25% increase in LGD, expected rating of AA (high) (sf)
-- 25% increase in PD and 50% increase in LGD, expected rating of AA (high) (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD and 25% increase in LGD, expected rating of AA (high) (sf)
-- 50% increase in PD and 50% increase in LGD, expected rating of AA (sf)

For further information on DBRS historical default rates published by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) in a central repository, see:
http://cerep.esma.europa.eu/cerep-web/statistics/defaults.xhtml.

Ratings assigned by DBRS Ratings GmbH are subject to EU and US regulations only.

Lead Analyst: Daniel Rakhamimov, Senior Financial Analyst
Rating Committee Chair: Alfonso Candelas, Senior Vice President
Initial Rating Date: 14 September 2016

DBRS Ratings GmbH
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60311 Frankfurt am Main Deutschland

Geschäftsführer: Detlef Scholz
Amtsgericht Frankfurt am Main, HRB 110259

The rating methodologies used in the analysis of this transaction can be found at: http://www.dbrs.com/about/methodologies.

-- Legal Criteria for European Structured Finance Transactions
-- Master European Structured Finance Surveillance Methodology
-- Operational Risk Assessment for European Structured Finance Servicers
-- Rating European Consumer and Commercial Asset-Backed Securitisations
-- Interest Rate Stresses for European Structured Finance Transactions
-- Derivative Criteria for European Structured Finance Transactions

A description of how DBRS analyses structured finance transactions and how the methodologies are collectively applied can be found at: http://www.dbrs.com/research/278375.

For more information on this credit or on this industry, visit www.dbrs.com or contact us at info@dbrs.com.