We have issued a new securitisation fund for an amount of 331.2 million euros under the name RMBS Belem No. 2. BNP Paribas and Banco Santander acted as arrengers in the structuring of the transaction, while UCI’s branch in Portugal (Unión de Créditos Inmobiliarios EFC, S.A.), a financial institution supervised by the Bank of Portugal, participated as the originator of the securitised mortgage loans.
Within the SPV TAGUS – Sociedade de Titularização de Créditos (the Issuer), RMBS Belem No. 2 pools, as the underlying asset, 2,818 prime owner-occupied residential mortgage loans for an amount of 325 million euros.
Vieira de Almeida (VdA) advised UCI on the registration of the prospectus at the Securities Market Commission (CMVM), as well as the legal setting up of the securitisation fund, and Citibank Europe PLC acted as paying agent, transaction manager and trustee in the transaction.
It is the UCI group’s second Portuguese RMBS transaction, which was carried out in accordance with the strict STS (Simple, Transparent and Standardised) principles established in the Securitisation Regulation (EU) 2017/2402. The transaction also meets the regulatory requirements set out in the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR).
The portfolio files and appendices have also been published on the European DataWarehouse platform according to the new ESMA Regulation, in line with STS transparency requirements, in order to be classed as bonds deemed eligible as collateral by the ECB (in this case, the Tranche A Bonds).
In this securitisation transaction, the favourable selection of assets means that it has very positive risk ratios, with a WA LTV (weighted average loan to value) of 64.53% and a seasoning (average time since origination) of 3.7 years.
The class A bonds were rated by the credit ratings agencies DBRS Morningstar and Fitch Ratings at AAA and AA, respectively, the highest rating for structured transactions in Portugal and above the sovereign rating. The class B bonds also achieved A (high) and A ratings, with both being categorised as investment grade.
In April 2020, RMBS Green Belem No. 1 became the first prime STS RMBS in Portugal, and the first issue of green RMBS bonds in the Iberian Peninsula. This securitisation fund won the Sustainable Finance prize at the 2021 Euronext Lisbon Awards, which recognises the initiatives which have the biggest environmental, social or corporate governance impact.
UCI Portugal opened its first agency in 1998. Today it has 12 branches, has financed more than 27,000 transactions and its 90 day arrears rate is under 0.80%. Its production volume in 2021 was 185 million euros and this year it has already surpassed 165 million euros.
With RMBS Belem No. 2, UCI Portugal has now reached the figure of 710 million euros in securitised loans since 2020, against a current loan balance of more than 1.2 billion euros.
