OREANDA-NEWS. Fitch Ratings has upgraded Quion Groep B.V.'s (Quion) Dutch Residential Primary Servicer Rating to 'RPS2+' from 'RPS2'. The agency has affirmed the Dutch Residential Special Servicer Ratings at 'RSS2'.

Total assets under management (AUM) in December 2014 increased by 21% in volume year on year. Growth has been achieved by the boarding of a portfolio of 39,000 loans and an increase in the number of newly originated loans of almost 40%. The servicer has also broadened its portfolio over the last two years by reducing its reliance on two major lender clients. The upgrade reflects the agency's positive view of the servicer's long-term sustainability.

The upgrade further takes into account the improved efficiency of Quion's systems, which significantly impacts operations, particularly in primary servicing. In 2014 the servicer carried out a major technology infrastructure improvement project, resulting in the development or replacement of existing technologies. Quion has also improved the speed of processing across areas such as loan accounting, customer service and collections.

In addition to the technology enhancements Quion has continued to develop its servicing proposition. A new dedicated complaints team has reduced average response time and the introduction of a borrower website provides an additional and interactive communication tool. The creation of a financial care team provides focus on risk analysis and proactive loan resolution strategies. However, customer service call centre performance has deteriorated year-on-year and is weaker than that of rated peers.

Fitch continues to take a positive view of Quion's special servicing, which benefits from the use of borrower segmentation and a structured quality control programme. Quion was one of the first to implement these practices, which have become standard across Fitch-rated servicers in the Netherlands. Quion's risk-based communication strategies and the increased use of loan modification as a resolution tool are in line with rated peers'.

The ratings take into account the significant change at senior management level in recent years. The previous CEO left Quion in 2014 after two and a half years and was succeeded by the former COO in December. Following this promotion the COO role was replaced by a Chief Commercial Officer role, which was vacant at the time of review, with the CEO and the Chief Financial Risk Officer covering all duties. Although the servicer has seen three different CEOs in less than five years, this is largely mitigated by the continuity provided by the internal promotion and the stability of the rest of the senior management team.

The ratings also reflect Quion's continuous development of an already robust training and development programme. The average number of training hours delivered continues to increase year on year and in 2014 "Lean Six Sigma" training was extended across the business, with all employees now required to obtain first level awareness certification. Staff turnover continues to show a decreasing trend, with an annualised rate of 6.6%, which is low relative to peers' and reflects favourably on Quion's recruitment, training and retention policies.

Fitch considers Quion's risk management framework to be robust, with a good level of audit activity.

Fitch used its servicer rating criteria to analyse the servicer's operations and financial condition, including a comparison against similar Dutch servicers as part of the review process. The analysis is based on information provided to Fitch by Quion.

At end-December 2014, Quion's residential primary servicing portfolio totalled EUR39.6bn (December 2013: EUR31.1bn), comprising 237,498 loans (December 2013: 195,156 loans). Quion acted as special servicer on 77% of these loans and RMBS represented 60% of the total by value (December 2013: 66%).