Bangkok--4 Sep--Fitch Ratings
Fitch Ratings said today that the majority of rating Outlooks are Stable for Fitch-rated structured finance (SF) tranches within non-Japan Asia.
"Nearly 90% of the outstanding SF tranches in non-Japan Asia have Stable Outlooks", says Alex Choi, Associate Director in Fitch's non-Japan Asia SF team. "Although performance of the underlying collateral has generally deteriorated, most of the outstanding tranches are expected to withstand any negative impact as credit enhancement remains commensurate with their respective rating levels," adds Mr. Choi.
Most tranches in transactions backed by assets in non-Japan Asia have Stable Outlooks. The exceptions are five ABS tranches, one CMBS tranche and two RMBS tranches. The Negative Outlooks assigned to the ABS tranches include two backed by credit card receivables in Singapore, one by Thai credit card receivables and another one from a Thai auto loan transaction. The single tranche from one Korean ABS transaction also has a Negative Outlook assigned, following a rating action on The Korea Development Bank ('A+'/'F1'/Negative Outlook), to which the ratings are linked. On the CMBS front, one tranche in Taiwan was assigned a Negative Outlook, while two Korean RMBS tranches have Positive Outlooks assigned, reflecting the growth of the credit enhancement levels.
Details of the individual asset type outlooks can be found in the report "Asia Pacific Structured Finance Outlooks - One Year On".
Rating Outlooks have been published for all newly issued APAC SF tranches since June 2008, and concurrently with rating actions for tranches issued prior to June 2008. Unlike a Rating Watch which notifies investors that there is a reasonable probability of a rating change in the short term as a result of a specific event, rating outlooks indicate the likely direction of any rating change over a one- to two-year period.
Contacts: Alex Choi, Hong Kong, +852 2263 9936; Alison Ho, Hong Kong, +852 2263 9937
Media Relations: Lisa Lim, Singapore, Tel: +65 6796 7214, Email: [email protected]; Shivani Sundralingam, Singapore, Tel: + 65 6796 7215, Email: [email protected].
Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site.