OREANDA-NEWS. Japanese structured finance (SF) and structured credit (SC) transactions remained stable in 1Q16, with nine rating affirmations, Fitch Ratings says.

Seven out of the nine affirmations were from two residential mortgage-backed security (RMBS) transactions, reflecting Fitch's view that available credit-enhancement levels are sufficient to support the current ratings. This is despite a decline in excess spread in one of the RMBS. Two SC transactions were also affirmed.

The account bank for eight Japanese SF transactions became ineligible, following its downgrade in December 2015. This was successfully replaced by a bank satisfying Fitch's SF counterparty criteria in March 2016.

All Japanese SF transactions have Stable Outlooks, given the performance of the underlying pools. Fitch expects current macro-economic conditions to support stable assets, and in turn, rating performance in Japanese SF transactions.