Fitch Ratings said today that it downgraded 150 RMBS, 58 Structured Credit, 23 ABS and three CMBS tranches related to 156 Spanish structured finance transactions.
The downgrades applied to tranches at Fitch's ratings cap for SF transactions from Spain and follow the June 7, downgrade of Spain's Long-term foreign currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to 'BBB'/Negative from 'A'/Negative.
Fitch has revised its ratings cap on Spanish SF transactions to 'AA-sf' from 'AAAsf', to maintain the five-notch differential between the sovereign IDR and the highest achievable structured finance ratings. "The ratings cap reflects the agency's concerns that the weakening sovereign increases the likelihood of extreme macro-economic events that could undermine the performance of the securitizations, explained Fitch in a report today on its action.
