- Question ID
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2023_6743
- Legal act
- Regulation (EU) No 2017/2402 (SecReg)
- Topic
- Provisions applicable to all securitisations
- Article
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6
- COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs/Recommendations
- Not applicable
- Article/Paragraph
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N/A
- Name of institution / submitter
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Centotrenta Servicing S.p.A.
- Country of incorporation / residence
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Italy
- Type of submitter
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Other
- Subject matter
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Application of the retention requirements to situations where the retained exposure is transferred to a third-party after losses associated with the relevant exposure
- Question
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Can a retention holder under Article 6(3)(c) (so-called random selection) of Regulation (EU) 2402/2017 (“Securitisation Regulation”) transfer the retained exposure to a third party if the transfer occurs after crystallisation on the retention holder’s accounts of the losses associated with the relevant exposure?
- Background on the question
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In relation to non-performing exposures, a recovery way alternative to judicial enforcement proceedings against the debtor is often the transfer for consideration of the relevant exposure to specialised third parties. Such transfer occurs typically at a discount (since the underlying exposures are non-performing) which in the Italian markets is significant (e.g. 70/80% discount on GBV for secured exposures, 95/99% discount on GBV for unsecured exposures) and which determines a loss (being the difference between the GBV and the sale price of the relevant exposure) on the seller’s accounts. Therefore, taking into account the statement from Article 6(3) of EBA’s final draft regulatory technical standards specifying the requirements for originators, sponsors, original lenders and servicers relating to risk retention pursuant to Article 6(7) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2402 as amended by Regulation (EU) 2021/557 -EBA/RTS/2022/04 (hereinafter, “Final Draft RTS”) which provides that “The retainer shall not designate different individual exposures at different points in time, except where this may be necessary to fulfil the retention requirement in relation to a securitisation in which the securitised exposures fluctuate over time, either due to new exposures being added to the securitisation or to changes in the level of the individual securitised exposures” and the statement from Article 10(2) of Final Draft RTS which provides that ”The retainer shall not be required to constantly replenish or readjust its retained interest to at least 5 % as losses are realised on its retained exposures or allocated to its retained positions”, the question arises on whether, following the crystallisation of the losses (i.e. the recording of the relevant losses on the retainer’s accounts), the retention holder can sell the retained exposure without violating the provision of Article 6(1) of the Securitisation Regulation.
- Submission date
- Final publishing date
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- Final answer
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The question boils down to a situation in which the retainer writes off the exposures retained on balance, taking 100% of the loss in the P&L account, in which case the risk retention requirement will no longer exist in accordance with Article 10(2) of the RTS on risk retention: “The retainer shall not be required to constantly replenish or readjust its retained interest to at least 5 % when losses are realised on its retained exposures or allocated to its retained position”
However, if the retainer subsequently sells or transfer these exposures for a positive value to a third party, it will get a profit which would be circumventing the purpose of the risk retention requirement, as the facto a remaining outstanding value of the retained exposures exist and the write off would have been artificial. Therefore, the prohibition of selling or transferring the exposures in Article 12 of the RTS on risk retention shall apply to this case.
- Status
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Final Q&A
- Answer prepared by
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Answer prepared by the Joint ESAs Q&A
- Note to Q&A
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The present Q&A is also published as SecReg Q&A No. 18 on the Joint Q&A page.
Disclaimer
The Q&A refers to the provisions in force on the day of their publication. The EBA does not systematically review published Q&As following the amendment of legislative acts. Users of the Q&A tool should therefore check the date of publication of the Q&A and whether the provisions referred to in the answer remain the same.