OREANDA-NEWS. Fitch Ratings has affirmed doBank S. p.A.'s (doBank, formerly UCCMB) Italian Residential and Commercial Mortgage Special Servicer Ratings at 'RSS1-' and 'CSS1-', respectively and removed them from Rating Watch Negative (RWN).

The removal of the RWN follows the completion of a full operational review by Fitch after the acquisition of doBank by Fortress Investment Group LLC (Fortress) affiliates from Unicredit S. p.A. (Unicredit, BBB+/Negative/F2).

The affirmation reflects a largely unchanged senior management team at doBank post-sale, which Fitch considers as important for the servicer's stability. doBank's former CEO and the Head of Communication and Strategic Marketing left in 2H15. The interim period had been covered by the General Manager and the senior management team, providing continuity of operations. A new CEO was appointed in April 2016. As of end-December 2015, average industry experience and company tenure across senior management team was 24 years and 15 years, respectively, which is high compared with rated peers' .

The ratings take into consideration organisational changes resulting from doBank operating as a standalone entity post-sale. The corporate structure has been streamlined to provide greater focus, with a clear separation between operations and core areas supporting the business strategy. The reorganisation has not resulted in any significant turnover at departmental level, ensuring retention of knowledge. Industry experience and company tenure across Department Heads at end-2015 averaged 18 years and 12 years, respectively which is higher than the average seen at rated peers.

Unicredit is the servicer's largest client, representing 85% of doBank's assets under management by value, as of end-December 2015. Following the change of ownership doBank's corporate strategy is to expand the client base with further third-party mandates. Although the materialisation of new mandates has yet to be seen, doBank had the largest servicing portfolio across Fitch-rated peers at the time of review. doBank has negotiated a new long-term servicing agreement with Unicredit, which will provide a sustainable flow of business.

As doBank is no longer financially supported by Unicredit, a Fitch-rated financial institution, the agency has assessed the servicer's financial profile as a standalone entity. The servicer's annual financial results have been volatile over the past five years. Fitch acknowledges that the volatility was primarily driven by changes in accounting standards and asset valuation requirements. The renegotiated servicing agreement with Unicredit provides an improved fee structure and the servicer is focused on cost reduction. In Fitch's view this should lead to a return to profitability in the medium-term.

In assessing doBank's financial condition some credit was given to the indirect support from Fortress, in view of the support it has provided to other servicing entities owned by its affiliates.

The ratings also reflect continued robust risk management at doBank. Prior to the change of ownership doBank mandated a primary business consultant company to review best practices in the Italian financial services market and completed a gap analysis of the servicer's framework. This resulted in some minor adjustments, which supports Fitch's view of tight controls at doBank.

The servicer was still audited by Unicredit's internal audit (IA) function during the transition phase of the acquisition. A dedicated and independent IA function has been set up at servicer level, reporting directly to the Board of Directors, and is led by a newly appointed auditor, whose experience is in line with that seen across highly rated peers. At the time of the review the new Head of the IA function had only completed a six-month audit cycle. Fitch can only fully assess the new function after a full audit cycle has been completed; however, in its rating analysis the agency gave credit to the continued support and guidance provided by Unicredit until the completion of the acquisition.

As part of the sale agreement 118 employees were transferred to Unicredit group. Excluding these employees annualised staff turnover at doBank for 2015 remained the lowest across rated peers, at 1.2%. As of end-December 2015, the servicer had 618 employees with an average company tenure that was in line with previous years and highly rated peers.

In 2015 doBank continued to focus on staff development, particularly on regulatory changes and changes within the organisational model. Average training hours delivered per individual increased to 22.9 hours at end-2015, from 13.4 hours in the year to June 2014. The training modules and facilities offered to employees and the external network remain advanced compared with rated peers. doBank Academy, established in 2013, is accredited under ISO:9001 certification for the quality of its training. All HR activities, previously supported by Unicredit's HR function, have been outsourced to a major external provider since March 2016.

The ratings also reflect doBank's continued strong IT infrastructure. The servicer continues to use Unicredit Business Integrated Solutions (UBIS), with a small number of applications managed by doBank's IT function. Full segregation of doBank's platform was achieved as part of the sale agreement. In Fitch's view this provides continuity to servicing activities and mitigates risks stemming from a change of servicing platform. Business continuity and disaster recovery tests were carried out in 2015 with no material findings.

As of 31 December 2015 doBank's special servicing portfolio had a gross book value (GBV) of EUR41.7bn (end-June 2014: EUR41bn), comprising 659,392 loans (end-June 2014: 714,196). The special servicing portfolios contain a wide range of loan and asset types, across a variety of clients. The secured portfolio represented 34.5% of the total portfolio serviced.

Fitch employed its global servicer rating criteria in analysing the servicer's operations and financial condition, which includes a comparison against similar Italian servicers as part of the review process.