DBRS Morningstar Confirms Ratings on SC Germany Consumer 2018-1 UG (haftungsbeschränkt)

DBRS Ratings GmbH (DBRS Morningstar) confirmed its ratings on the notes issued by SC Germany Consumer 2018-1 UG (haftungsbeschränkt) (the Issuer) as follows:

-- Class A Notes at AA (low) (sf)
-- Class B Notes at A (sf)
-- Class C Notes at BBB (sf)
-- Class D Notes at BB (high) (sf)

The rating on the Class A Notes addresses the timely payment of interest and ultimate repayment of principal by the legal final maturity date in December 2031. The ratings on the Class B Notes, Class C Notes, and Class D Notes address the ultimate payment of interest and ultimate repayment of principal by the legal final maturity date.

The confirmations follow an annual review of the transaction and are based on the following analytical considerations:

-- Portfolio performance, in terms of delinquencies, defaults, and losses as of the December 2019 payment date;
-- Probability of default (PD), loss given default (LGD), and expected loss assumptions on the remaining receivables;
-- Current available credit enhancement to the notes to cover the expected losses at their respective rating levels.

The Issuer is a securitisation of consumer loans granted to individuals residing in Germany, originated and serviced by Santander Consumer Bank AG (SCB), a subsidiary of Santander Consumer Finance SA (SCF). The transaction closed in December 2018 with an initial portfolio of EUR 1.6 billion and had a 12-month revolving period, which ended on the December 2019 payment date.

PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCE
As of the December 2019 payment date, loans 0 to 30 days, 30 to 60 days, and 60 to 90 days delinquent represented 0.4%, 0.3%, and 0.1% of the outstanding portfolio balance, respectively. Loans more than 90 days delinquent amounted to 0.1% of the outstanding principal balance. Gross cumulative defaults stood at 0.4% of the aggregated original portfolio balance.

PORTFOLIO ASSUMPTIONS
DBRS Morningstar conducted a loan-by-loan analysis of the remaining pool of receivables and maintained its base case PD and LGD assumptions at 6.2% and 80.0%, respectively.

CREDIT ENHANCEMENT
The subordination of the respective junior obligations provides credit enhancement to the rated notes. As of the December 2019 payment date, credit enhancement to the Class A Notes decreased to 17.9% from 18.5% at the initial rating in December 2018; credit enhancement to the Class B Notes decreased to 13.7% from 14.3%; credit enhancement to the Class C Notes decreased to 9.9% from 10.5%; and credit enhancement to the Class D Notes decreased to 8.6% from 9.3%. The decrease in credit enhancement is a result of defaulted loans since closing and lack of amortisation of the notes due to the revolving period, which ended in December 2019.

The transaction benefits from a liquidity reserve available upon the occurrence of a servicer termination event to cover senior expenses and interest due on the Class A Notes. The liquidity reserve is amortising with a target balance equal to 0.5% of the outstanding Class A Notes balance, subject to a floor of EUR 1.0 million. As of the December 2019 payment date, the reserve has remained at its target balance of EUR 6.5 million.

The transaction is exposed to potential commingling and set-off risks as debtors may open accounts with the originator and collections are swept to the account bank on each monthly payment date. As a mitigant, SCB in its capacity as servicer and originator will fund separate commingling and set-off reserves if the DBRS Morningstar rating of SCB’s parent company – SCF – falls below specific thresholds or certain ownership thresholds are breached, as defined in the transaction documentation. These reserves continue to be unfunded as neither trigger has been breached to date.

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

DBRS Morningstar analysed the transaction structure in Intex DealMaker.

Notes:
All figures are in euros unless otherwise noted.

The principal methodology applicable to these ratings is the “Master European Structured Finance Surveillance Methodology”. DBRS Morningstar 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 actions.

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 “Global Methodology for Rating Sovereign Governments” at: https://www.dbrs.com/research/350410/global-methodology-for-rating-sovereign-governments.

The sources of data and information used for these ratings include investor and servicer reports provided by SCB and loan-level data provided by the European DataWarehouse GmbH.

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

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

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

DBRS Morningstar 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 21 December 2018, when DBRS Morningstar assigned ratings of AA (low) (sf), A (sf), BBB (sf), and BB (high) (sf) to the Class A Notes, Class B Notes, Class C Notes, and Class D Notes, respectively.

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

Information regarding DBRS Morningstar 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 Morningstar considered the following stress scenarios as compared with the parameters used to determine the rating (the base case):

-- DBRS Morningstar 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 6.2% and 80.0%, 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 decrease to A (sf), ceteris paribus. If the PD increases by 50%, the rating of the Class A Notes would be expected to decrease to A (low) (sf), ceteris paribus. Furthermore, if both the PD and LGD increase by 50%, the rating of the Class A Notes would be expected to decrease to BBB (sf).

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

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

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

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

For further information on DBRS Morningstar 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: 21 December 2018

DBRS Ratings GmbH
Neue Mainzer Straße 75
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
-- Rating European Consumer and Commercial Asset-Backed Securitisations
-- Master European Structured Finance Surveillance Methodology
-- Operational Risk Assessment for European Structured Finance Servicers
-- Operational Risk Assessment for European Structured Finance Originators

A description of how DBRS Morningstar 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.