Article 20
Requirements relating to simplicity
1. The title to the underlying exposures shall be acquired by the SSPE by means of a true sale or assignment or transfer with the same legal effect in a manner that is enforceable against the seller or any other third party. The transfer of the title to the SSPE shall not be subject to severe clawback provisions in the event of the seller’s insolvency.
2. For the purpose of paragraph 1, any of the following shall constitute severe clawback provisions:
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(a) |
provisions which allow the liquidator of the seller to invalidate the sale of the underlying exposures solely on the basis that it was concluded within a certain period before the declaration of the seller’s insolvency; |
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(b) |
provisions where the SSPE can only prevent the invalidation referred to in point (a) if it can prove that it was not aware of the insolvency of the seller at the time of sale. |
3. For the purpose of paragraph 1, clawback provisions in national insolvency laws that allow the liquidator or a court to invalidate the sale of underlying exposures in the case of fraudulent transfers, unfair prejudice to creditors or transfers intended to improperly favour particular creditors over others shall not constitute severe clawback provisions.
4. Where the seller is not the original lender, the true sale or assignment or transfer with the same legal effect of the underlying exposures to that seller, whether that true sale or assignment or transfer with the same legal effect is direct or through one or more intermediate steps, shall meet the requirements set out in paragraphs 1 to 3.
5. Where the transfer of the underlying exposures is performed by means of an assignment and perfected at a later stage than at the closing of the transaction, the triggers to effect such perfection shall include at least the following events:
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(a) |
severe deterioration in the seller credit quality standing; |
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(b) |
insolvency of the seller; and |
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(c) |
unremedied breaches of contractual obligations by the seller, including the seller’s default. |
6. The seller shall provide representations and warranties that, to the best of its knowledge, the underlying exposures included in the securitisation are not encumbered or otherwise in a condition that can be foreseen to adversely affect the enforceability of the true sale or assignment or transfer with the same legal effect.
7. The underlying exposures transferred from, or assigned by, the seller to the SSPE shall meet predetermined, clear and documented eligibility criteria which do not allow for active portfolio management of those exposures on a discretionary basis. For the purpose of this paragraph, substitution of exposures that are in breach of representations and warranties shall not be considered active portfolio management. Exposures transferred to the SSPE after the closing of the transaction shall meet the eligibility criteria applied to the initial underlying exposures.
8. The securitisation shall be backed by a pool of underlying exposures that are homogeneous in terms of asset type, taking into account the specific characteristics relating to the cash flows of the asset type including their contractual, credit-risk and prepayment characteristics. A pool of underlying exposures shall comprise only one asset type. The underlying exposures shall contain obligations that are contractually binding and enforceable, with full recourse to debtors and, where applicable, guarantors.
The underlying exposures shall have defined periodic payment streams, the instalments of which may differ in their amounts, relating to rental, principal, or interest payments, or to any other right to receive income from assets supporting such payments. The underlying exposures may also generate proceeds from the sale of any financed or leased assets.
The underlying exposures shall not include transferable securities, as defined in point (44) of Article 4(1) of Directive 2014/65/EU, other than corporate bonds that are not listed on a trading venue.
9. The underlying exposures shall not include any securitisation position.
10. The underlying exposures shall be originated in the ordinary course of the originator’s or original lender’s business pursuant to underwriting standards that are no less stringent than those that the originator or original lender applied at the time of origination to similar exposures that are not securitised. The underwriting standards pursuant to which the underlying exposures are originated and any material changes from prior underwriting standards shall be fully disclosed to potential investors without undue delay.
In the case of securitisations where the underlying exposures are residential loans, the pool of loans shall not include any loan that was marketed and underwritten on the premise that the loan applicant or, where applicable, intermediaries were made aware that the information provided might not be verified by the lender.
The assessment of the borrower’s creditworthiness shall meet the requirements set out in Article 8 of Directive 2008/48/EC or paragraphs 1 to 4, point (a) of paragraph 5, and paragraph 6 of Article 18 of Directive 2014/17/EU or, where applicable, equivalent requirements in third countries.
The originator or original lender shall have expertise in originating exposures of a similar nature to those securitised.
11. The underlying exposures shall be transferred to the SSPE after selection without undue delay and shall not include, at the time of selection, exposures in default within the meaning of Article 178(1) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 or exposures to a credit-impaired debtor or guarantor, who, to the best of the originator’s or original lender’s knowledge:
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(a) |
has been declared insolvent or had a court grant his creditors a final non-appealable right of enforcement or material damages as a result of a missed payment within three years prior to the date of origination or has undergone a debt-restructuring process with regard to his non-performing exposures within three years prior to the date of transfer or assignment of the underlying exposures to the SSPE, except if:
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(b) |
was, at the time of origination, where applicable, on a public credit registry of persons with adverse credit history or, where there is no such public credit registry, another credit registry that is available to the originator or original lender; or |
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(c) |
has a credit assessment or a credit score indicating that the risk of contractually agreed payments not being made is significantly higher than for comparable exposures held by the originator which are not securitised. |
12. The debtors shall, at the time of transfer of the exposures, have made at least one payment, except in the case of revolving securitisations backed by exposures payable in a single instalment or having a maturity of less than one year, including without limitation monthly payments on revolving credits.
13. The repayment of the holders of the securitisation positions shall not have been structured to depend predominantly on the sale of assets securing the underlying exposures. This shall not prevent such assets from being subsequently rolled-over or refinanced.
The repayment of the holders of the securitisation positions whose underlying exposures are secured by assets the value of which is guaranteed or fully mitigated by a repurchase obligation by the seller of the assets securing the underlying exposures or by another third party shall not be considered to depend on the sale of assets securing those underlying exposures.
14. The EBA, in close cooperation with ESMA and EIOPA, shall develop draft regulatory technical standards further specifying which underlying exposures referred to in paragraph 8 are deemed to be homogeneous.
The EBA shall submit those draft regulatory technical standards to the Commission by 18 July 2018.
The Commission is empowered to supplement this Regulation by adopting the regulatory technical standards referred to in this paragraph in accordance with Articles 10 to 14 of Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010.