Fitch Ratings is sticking out again.
The ratings agency found fault with Credit Suisse’s latest residential mortgage backed securitization, the $329.9 million CSMC Trust 2012-CIM3 (CIM3), saying the deal’s senior most tranches do not merit a triple-A rating.
No surprise, Fitch was not invited to rate the deal.
Describing its credit stance on the transaction as “more conservative” — presumably vis-à-vis Standard & Poor’s, since as of press time Moody’s Investors Service had not publicly rated the transaction — Fitch said the credit enhancement for the A2 class is more than 15% lower than any Fitch-rated RMBS deal issued since 2008. Fitch estimated that the A1 and A2 notes had 8% combined enhancement.
“The 5.85% CE available to the A-2 class is not sufficient in Fitch’s view to fully address the risks associated with the pool, including concentrations in geographies whose property prices remain well above what Fitch believes are sustainable values,” the ratings agency said in a report distributed today.
It's not the first time Fitch has disagreed with its rivals on the quality of a Credit Suisse deal. The ratings agency caused a stir in April when it took a more critical view of a $1.3 billion securitization of Jumbo mortgages underwritten by MetLife, CSFB Mortgage Securities Corp. 2012-CIM1.
