Fitch Ratings has discontinued its U.S. ABS seller/servicer ratings and has withdrawn all existing U.S. ABS seller/servicer ratings and related criteria.
The rating agency will still be assessing operational risk as part of its review process for both new and existing transactions, including an evaluation of a firm's corporate history, origination/underwriting as well as servicing operations.
Fitch will include an enhanced section in each deal's presale report that will detail the operational review's finding. This will take the place of the press release and report that accompanied the explicit seller/servicer ratings. The presale will be highlighting the strengths that a seller/servicer brings to a deal and challenges it faces in the marketplace.
If Fitch determines that the risk associated with a particular servicer is significant, the rating may be capped or the issuer may elect to mitigate the risk by including a back-up servicer in the transaction.
The criteria for operational risk reviews will now be incorporated into the criteria for each asset class.
The ratings withdrawls are as follows:
US ABS Credit Card Seller/Servicer:
--1st Financial Bank USA: Proficient;
--Capital One Bank: Proficient Plus;
--Discover Bank: Proficient Plus;
--FIA Card Services: Proficient Plus;
--First National Bank of Omaha: Proficient;
--GE Capital Corp.: Proficient Plus;
--HSBC Finance Corp.: Proficient Plus.
US ABS Student Loan Seller/Servicer-Private:
--Access Group, Inc.: Proficient;
--Sallie Mae: Proficient Plus.
US ABS Student Loan Servicer-Private:
--ACS Education Services: Proficient Plus;
--Great Lakes Educational Loan Services: Proficient;
--Kentucky Higher Education Student Loan Corp.: Proficient Plus;
--Xpress Loan Servicing: Proficient.
US ABS Student Loan-FFELP:
--Access Group: Proficient Plus;
--ACS Education Services: Proficient Plus;
--Great Lakes Educational Loan Services: Proficient Plus;
--Kentucky Higher Education Student Loan Corp.: Proficient Plus;
--Sallie Mae: Proficient Plus;
--Wells Fargo Education Financial Services: Proficient Plus;
--Xpress Loan Servicing: Proficient.
