The European Commission has adopted a final regulation that sets
out wide-ranging disclosure requirements for structured finance
instruments ("SFIs") in circumstances where the issuer,
originator or sponsor is established in the European Union
("EU").
Although the disclosure requirements apply only to structured
finance instruments issued on or after 1 January 2017, or
outstanding on that date, the disclosure requirements will apply to
a broad range of transactions, including unrated and—after a
phase-in period—private and bilateral structured finance
instruments.
Background
On 30 September 2014, the European Commission adopted three
Regulatory Technical Standards to implement provisions of the EU
Regulation on Credit Rating Agencies
("CRA3").1
These Regulatory Technical Standards establish:
- Disclosure requirements for issuers, originators and sponsors of structured finance instruments,
- Reporting requirements in relation to the European Rating Platform, and
- Reporting requirements on fees charged by credit rating agencies.
This Commentary looks at the first set of Regulatory
Technical Standards which apply to the disclosure of information
relating to structured finance instruments (the
"RTS").
The stated aim of the RTS is to improve the ability of investors
to make an informed assessment of the creditworthiness of SFIs,
thereby reducing investors' dependence on credit ratings and
reinforcing competition between credit rating agencies.
The RTS specify:
- The information that the issuer, originator and sponsor of an SFI established in the European Union must jointly disclose on a website (the "SFIs website") to be set up by the European Securities and Markets Authority ("ESMA");
- The frequency with which this information is to be updated; and
- The presentation of this information by means of standardised disclosure templates.
Meaning of "Structured Finance Instrument"
The RTS apply to financial instruments or other assets resulting
from a transaction or scheme, whereby the credit risk associated
with an exposure or pool of exposures is tranched (i.e., divided
into contractually established segments of credit risk with
different risks of credit loss), having both of the following
characteristics: (i) payments in the transaction or scheme are
dependent upon the performance of the exposure or pool of
exposures; and (ii) the subordination of tranches determines the
distribution of losses during the ongoing life of the transaction
or scheme.
This definition incorporates the definition of
"securitisation" in the Capital Requirements Regulation
("CRR")2 and accordingly introduces the same
uncertainties as to whether or not certain types of transactions
are "securitisations"—for instance, certain types
of portfolio acquisition financings, secured corporate and
single-asset commercial mortgage-backed securities
("CMBS") financings.
Recital 2 to the RTS states, "an exposure that creates a
direct payment obligation for a transaction or scheme used to
finance or operate physical assets should not be considered an
exposure to a securitisation, even if the transaction or scheme has
payment obligations of different seniority". This recital
repeats recital 50 of the CRR, which is generally taken to refer to
asset and project finance transactions, rather than as being a
general exclusion for real estate finance transactions.
The scope of the RTS is not limited to the issuance of SFIs that
qualify as "securities" but also includes "other
instruments and assets resulting from a securitisation transaction
or scheme, such as money-market instruments, including asset-backed
commercial paper programmes". Loans that form part of a
securitisation transaction are also in scope.
Despite the arguments of many industry respondents to ESMA's
consultation on the draft RTS, both unrated transactions and
private and bilateral transactions are within the scope of the RTS,
as well as transactions not offered to the public or admitted to
trading on a regulated market.
However, in relation to private and bilateral transactions, a
phase-in approach applies—the disclosure obligations will
apply only once ESMA has proposed to the European Commission an
amendment to the RTS which specifies those private and bilateral
SFIs to which the standardised disclosure templates apply and also
sets out new disclosure templates and reporting obligations
suitable to the particular nature of the remaining types of private
and bilateral SFIs. This will follow a public consultation.
Jurisdictional Scope
The RTS apply to all SFIs where one of the issuer,3 originator4 or sponsor5 is established in the European Union. For this purpose, "established" means "has its statutory seat". This means that many transactions not generally considered to be European structured finance transactions will be caught by the disclosure rules because one of the issuer, originator or sponsor is incorporated in the European Union.
Responsibility for Reporting
The obligation to comply with the disclosure requirements of the
RTS is a joint responsibility of the issuer, originator, and
sponsor of the SFI. However these parties may designate one or
multiple reporting entities to publish the required information on
the SFIs website or may outsource this task to a third party. The
identity of any designated reporting entity is required to be
notified to ESMA without delay.
The designation of a reporting entity does not relieve the issuer,
originator and sponsor from their responsibility for complying with
the RTS. When complying with the RTS, issuers, originators and
sponsors are required to comply with national and EU legislation on
confidentiality of information and the processing of personal
data.
One concern for banks and other originators which carry out
portfolio sales is that the definition of
"originator"6 includes both the entity which
created the asset and also an entity that purchases the asset onto
its balance sheet and then securitises it. Where a loan portfolio
has been sold and subsequently securitised, it is not clear whether
the disclosure requirements apply only to the second originator and
cease to apply to the first originator. However, this would seem to
be the preferable interpretation, particularly since the original
lender may not be aware of the subsequent securitisation.
Applicable Asset Classes
The information requirements under the RTS apply to SFIs backed by the following underlying asset classes:
- Residential mortgages;
- Commercial mortgages;
- SME loans;
- Auto loans;
- Consumer loans;
- Credit card loans; and
- Leases to individuals and/or businesses.
In the case of SFIs backed by other asset classes, a "phase-in approach" applies, and further disclosure requirements will be issued by ESMA. The asset classes to which the phase-in approach applies include:
- Trade receivables;
- Store cards;
- Corporate loans or leases;
- Asset-backed commercial paper;
- SFIs where the underlying assets comprise other SFIs (i.e., resecuritisations); and
- SFIs where the underlying assets are heterogeneous.
Information to be Reported
The reporting entity is required to provide the following
information to the SFIs website:
- Loan-level information using standardised disclosure templates set out in the RTS.
-
The following documents, where applicable to a SFI, including a
detailed description of the payments waterfall:
- The final offering document or prospectus, together with the closing transaction documents including any public documents referenced in the prospectus, or which govern the workings of the transaction but excluding legal opinions;
- The asset sale agreement or other applicable transfer document;
- The servicing, administration and cash management agreement;
- The trust deed, security deed, agency agreement, account bank agreement, guaranteed investment contract, incorporated terms memorandum or master framework agreement;
- Any relevant intercreditor agreements, swap documents, subordinated loan agreements, startup loan documents and liquidity facility agreements; and
- Any other underlying documents that are essential for the understanding of the transaction.
-
If a prospectus has not been drawn up, a transaction summary or
overview of the main features of the SFI, including:
- Deal structure;
- Asset characteristics, cash flows, credit enhancement and liquidity support features;
- Noteholder voting rights and the relationship between noteholders and other secured creditors;
- A list of all triggers and events that could have a material impact on the performance of the SFIs; and
- Structure diagrams containing an overview of the transaction, the cash flows and the ownership structure.
- Investor reports containing specified information.
Although legal opinions are not required to be provided, there is
no carve-out for commercially sensitive information such as
subscription/dealer agreements or for information that is subject
to confidentiality restrictions. Unlike the equivalent disclosure
requirements under Article 409 of the CRR, there is no ability for
parties to make a determination of what is "materially
relevant data" for the purposes of the disclosure
requirements.
Templates for Loan-Level Information
The RTS include standardised templates for loan-level
information in relation to the initial asset classes covered by the
RTS. In relation to SFIs with underlying assets which are subject
to the phase-in approach, the applicable disclosure templates are
intended to be developed and provided as soon as technically
possible.
Although market participants had argued that the provision of
loan-level data was not appropriate for highly granular, revolving
asset classes with high pool turnover, such as credit card and
trade-finance receivables, no exception has been made for these
asset classes. The RTS do, however, state that ESMA has noted these
concerns in relation to SFIs backed by credit card loans and
intends to monitor developments.
Frequency of Reporting
The specified loan-level information and investor reports have
to be made available on a quarterly basis, no later than one month
following the interest payment date on the SFI. The information
specified above has to be made available without delay after the
issuance of an SFI.
In addition, where the market abuse regime applies to an SFI, any
disclosure of information under that regime also has to be
published without delay on the SFIs website by the reporting
entity. Where the market abuse regime does not apply, the reporting
entity is required to disclose without delay on the SFIs website
any significant change or event relating to: (i) a breach of the
obligations in the transaction documents; (ii) structural features
that can materially affect the performance of the SFI; and (iii)
the risk characteristics of the SFI and of the underlying
assets.
Reporting Procedures
The reporting entity is required to submit data files in
accordance with the reporting system of the SFIs website and the
technical instructions to be provided by ESMA on its website by 1
July 2016. Files sent to the SFIs website must be stored by the
reporting entity for at least five years.
Where the reporting entity or the issuer, originator or sponsor
identifies factual errors in the data provided to the SFIs website,
it is required to correct the relevant data without undue
delay.
Date of Application of the RTS
The RTS come into force on the 20th day after publication in the
Official Journal of the European Union but apply only with
effect from 1 January 2017. The RTS are directly applicable in all
EU member states.
In relation to SFIs issued between the date of entry into force of
the RTS and the date of their application, the issuer, originator
and sponsor are required to comply only with the reporting
requirements in relation to the SFIs which are still outstanding at
the date of application of the RTS.
Conclusion
Although market participants will welcome the fact that the RTS apply only to SFIs issued or outstanding on or after 1 January 2017, the scope of the disclosure obligations is less welcome, particularly the inclusion of unrated, private and bilateral SFIs. The RTS will unquestionably increase transparency in the securitisation market but at the expense of significant administrative burdens for market participants.
Footnotes
1 The EU Regulation on Credit Rating Agencies (Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009), in force since 2010, was amended in May 2011 and further amended with effect from 20 June 2013 ((IP/13/555).
2 Capital Requirements Regulation (EU) No 575/2013, Article 4(61).
3 "Issuer" is defined to mean "a legal entity which issues or proposes to issue securities."
4 "Originator" is defined in CRA3 by reference to Article 4(41) of Directive 2006/48/EC, now replaced by the CRR, which defines "originator" as: "an entity which: (a) itself or through related entities, directly or indirectly, was involved in the original agreement which created the obligations or potential obligations of the debtor or potential debtor giving rise to the exposure being securitised; or (b) purchases a third party's exposures onto its balance sheet and then securitises them."
5 "Sponsor" is defined in CRA3 by reference to Article 4(42) of Directive 2006/48/EC. The CRR defines it as follows: "an institution other than an originator credit institution that establishes and manages an asset-backed commercial paper programme or other securitisation scheme that purchases exposures from third party entities". "Institution" is defined as "a credit institution or an investment firm," each as defined in the CRR.
6 See endnote 4 above.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.