Bangkok--Jun 10--Fitch Ratings
Fitch Ratings (Thailand) Limited today said the performance of AEON Thana Sinsap (Thailand) Plc’s (“AEONTS”) securitised credit card portfolio issued via Eternal Credit Card Special Purpose Vehicle Co., Ltd, since closing in February 2005, remains in line with its ‘AAA(tha)’ rating. This comment comes after the agency revised the Outlook on AEONTS’ ratings to Negative from Stable.
Fitch notes that during March-May collection periods, AEONTS’ exhibited strong average yield and delinquency ratios of 23.2% and 3.2%, respectively. While delinquencies may rise and the principal payment rate (defined as a monthly collection of principal as a percentage of outstanding principal balance) has dropped to an average of 15.6% due to seasonal factors and rising costs of living, these still fall within the credit enhancement parameters.
Investors should note that as one of the early amortisation trigger events is a decline of the three-month average principal payment rate to below 13%, there is a possibility that early amortisation may be triggered if the principal payment rate continues to decrease. While the recent introduction of an installment plan (“Happy Plan”) may add to downward pressure on the principal payment rate, AEONTS does not expect this to be significant and has indicated that it expects the principal payment rate to improve after June.
Contact:
Orawan Karoonkornsakul,
Pimolpa Simaroj,
Vincent Milton; Bangkok,
Tel: +662 655 4755;
Hilary Tan, Hong Kong,
+852 2263 9963
Note to Editors: Fitch’s National ratings provide a relative measure of creditworthiness for rated entities in countries with sub- or low-investment grade international sovereign ratings. The best risk within a country is rated ‘AAA’ and other credits are rated only relative to this risk. National ratings are designed for use mainly by local investors in local markets and are signified by the addition of an identifier for the country concerned, such as ‘AAA(tha)’ for National ratings in Thailand. Specific letter grades are not therefore internationally comparable.
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