OREANDA-NEWS. April 13, 2015. Fitch Ratings has assigned a rating to Light No. 5R Trust's Class A notes. The transaction is an internal securitisation of first-ranking prime Australian residential mortgages originated by Australian Central Credit Union Ltd (ACCU), trading as People's Choice Credit Union (PCCU). The ratings are as follows:

AUD475m Class A notes: 'AAAsf'; Outlook Stable; and
AUD75m Class B notes: Not Rated.

The notes are issued by Perpetual Corporate Trust Limited as trustee of the Light Trust No. 5R.

At the cut-off date, the collateral pool consisted of 2,830 loans totalling approximately AUD550m. The weighted average indexed current loan-to-value ratio was 72.4%, with a weighted average seasoning of 32 months. The pool is composed of 99.6% fully verified documentation loans, with investment loans accounting for 19.8%. Loans with a fixed interest rate make up 43.4% of the pool.

KEY RATING DRIVERS
The 'AAAsf' Long-Term Rating assigned to the Class A notes is based on: the quality of the collateral; the 13.6% credit enhancement (CE) provided to the Class A notes by the subordinate Class B notes; and a liquidity facility sized at 1.6% of the notes' balance. The rating also reflects PCCU's underwriting standards and servicing capabilities.

The transaction includes a 10-year substitution period. Various eligibility criteria and pool parameters are in place to ensure that during the substitution period the transaction maintains a stable credit profile.

Liquidity support is provided by excess spread, principal draws, and a liquidity facility sized at 1.6% of the notes' balance, which will amortise.

The pool benefits from lenders' mortgage insurance (LMI), with policies provided by QBE Lenders' Mortgage Insurance Limited (30.9%; Insurer Financial Strength Rating: AA-/Stable), and Genworth Financial Mortgages Insurance Pty Limited (9.8%; Insurer Financial Strength Rating: A+/Stable).

People's Choice Credit Union is one of Australia's largest credit unions by total assets. It is an Authorised Deposit-taking Institution headquartered in Adelaide, South Australia, and provides banking, residential lending, insurance and wealth creation services. The arrears levels of securitised Light Trust transactions have frequently tracked below Fitch's Dinkum Index.

The geographical distribution of the portfolio is concentrated in South Australia (74.8%) and the Northern Territory (13.2%) and is representative of PCCU's origination network.

RATING SENSITIVITIES
Unexpected decreases in the value of residential property, increases in the frequency of foreclosures, or loss severity on defaulted mortgages could produce loss levels higher than Fitch's base case that could result in negative rating action on the notes. Fitch evaluated the sensitivity of the rating on the Class A note to increased defaults and reduced recovery rates over the life of the transaction. Its analysis found that the rating remained stable under each of Fitch's mild and severe default and recovery scenarios. However, under the combination scenario of 30% increased defaults and 30% decrease in recovery rates, the Class A rating dropped to 'AA+sf' from 'AAAsf'.

The rating of the Class A note is supported by the rating of the LMI providers, and is able to withstand a greater than four notch downgrade of the LMI providers.

A report entitled "Light Trust No. 5R Representations and Warranties", which includes a description of the representations, warranties, and enforcement mechanisms within the transaction, is available on www.fitchratings.com or by clicking on the link above.