OREANDA-NEWS. Fitch Ratings has assigned Trinity Square 2016-1 plc's notes final ratings as follows:

GBP656,100,000 Class A: 'AAAsf', Outlook Stable
GBP19,770,000 Class M: not rated
GBP37,550,000 Class B: not rated
GBP23,720,000 Class C: not rated
GBP17,790,000 Class D: not rated
GBP11,860,000 Class E: not rated
GBP23,720,000 Class F: not rated
GBP16,610,000 Class X: not rated
GBP15,820,000 Class Z: not rated

This transaction is a securitisation of near-prime residential mortgages, originated by GE Money Home Lending and GE Mortgages Limited (GE).

The rating is based on Fitch's assessment of the underlying collateral, available credit enhancement (CE), GE's origination and underwriting procedures, and the transaction's financial and legal structure.

KEY RATING DRIVERS
Performing Seasoned Loans
GE was a non-conforming lender that originated loans across the credit spectrum. Given their strong performance to date Fitch considers the pool to be of near-prime quality. Hence, while Fitch used the non-conforming matrix to determine the frequency of foreclosure, it applied a downward lender adjustment of 10% in its analysis.

Purchased Portfolio
The portfolio is a purchased portfolio acquired by Kensington Mortgage Company Limited (KMC) from GE in August 2015. For purchased portfolios that are on-sold to investors, the interest between sellers and noteholders may be misaligned. Further, the seller is an unrated entity and so may have limited resources to repurchase mortgages if there is a breach of the representations and warranties (RW). However, these risks are mitigated by the eight years of seasoning of the loans, the extended file review performed by Fitch and due diligence performed as part of the purchase, among others.

Combined Liquidity, General Reserve
The transaction is supported by an amortising reserve fund set at 3% of the principal balance of the notes backed by the mortgage pool. Initially, most of the reserve fund provides liquidity only to the class A and class M notes, but as these notes amortise, the amount allocated for liquidity will fall in line with the note balances (defined as 2% of class A and M outstanding); the rest will become available to absorb credit losses.

RATING SENSITIVITIES
Material increases in the frequency of defaults and loss severity on defaulted receivables producing losses greater than Fitch's base case expectations may result in negative rating actions on the notes. Fitch's analysis revealed that a 30% increase in the WA foreclosure frequency, along with a 30% decrease in the WA recovery rate, would imply a downgrade of the class A notes to 'Asf' from 'AAAsf'.

More detailed model implied ratings sensitivity can be found in the new issue report which is available at www.fitchratings.com.

DUE DILIGENCE USAGE
No third party due diligence was provided or reviewed in relation to this rating action.

DATA ADEQUACY
KMC provided Fitch with a loan-by-loan data template; all relevant fields were provided in the data tape. Performance data on static historical arrears were provided for all loans originated by GE, but the volume of the data post 2008 was limited due to low origination levels.

Fitch has been provided with data for 3,675 sold repossessions of loans originated by GE. Of this 3,156 observations contained no errors and were used in the analysis. When assessing the relevant assumptions to apply the quick sale adjustment (QSA), Fitch considers the robustness of the initial valuations as the key driver, together with the special servicing arrangements in place. Fitch tested the realised QSA derived from the data provided against its criteria assumptions and found the realised adjustment to be broadly in line with the criteria.

In its analysis, Fitch applied its criteria assumptions for QSA in all buy-to-let cases without any adjustment and in owner-occupied cases except houses and bungalows. In the latter two, a higher QSA of 19.11% (17% in criteria) and 22.77% (17% in criteria) were applied respectively. The applied QSA reflected that observed in the data provided. Fitch believes that the dataset provided was of a sufficient size and that the QSA benchmarking is robust and appropriate for the analysis of the pool.

During the previous 12 months, Fitch conducted a site visit to GE's offices and conducted a file review to check the quality of GE's originations; no material issues were found. Fitch reviewed the results of an agreed-upon-procedures report on the asset portfolio information, which indicated no adverse findings material to the rating analysis.

Overall and together with the assumptions referred to above, Fitch's assessment of the asset pool information relied upon for the agency's rating analysis according to its applicable rating methodologies indicates that it is adequately reliable.

To analyse the CE levels, Fitch evaluated the collateral using its default model ResiEMEA. The agency assessed the transaction cash flows using default and loss severity assumptions under various structural stresses, including prepayment speeds and interest rate scenarios.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION
The information below was used in the analysis.
-Loan-by-loan data provided by KMC as at 31 January 2016
-Loan enforcement details provided by KMC as at 30 November 2015
-Loan performance data provided by KMC as at 30 November 2015