OREANDA-NEWS. Fitch Ratings has published its Global Consumer ABS Rating Criteria, which consolidates the EMEA Consumer ABS Rating Criteria, APAC Consumer ABS Rating Criteria and Rating Criteria for Consumer ABS in Latin America. The new criteria align Fitch's methodology for analysing credit risk in asset-backed securities backed by consumer receivables globally.

Fitch continues to maintain separate criteria for analysing ABS backed by credit card receivables, and by auto loans and leases in the US.

The analytical approach across the three consolidated criteria reports was already broadly similar. The global criteria introduce the following changes:

- The margin compression assumption is now aligned with the previous EMEA assumption.
- A description of the treatment of aspects frequently encountered in Emerging Markets transactions, such as potential high excess spread reliance and elevated asset interest rates.
- More detail on the use of servicing fees in APAC.
- A new appendix discusses relevant factors for analysing transactions backed by salary-deduction loans.
- Added transparency on deriving prepayment stresses.

Fitch does not expect any impact on the ratings of any existing transactions.

Fitch has also updated the Global Consumer ABS Rating Criteria - EMEA Auto Residual Value Addendum, which replaces the report EMEA Consumer ABS Criteria - Auto Residual Value Addendum. No analytical changes were made, but we have clarified the use of insolvency administrator fee assumptions in the UK.