Kookmin Credit Card Co., one of Korea's largest card issuers with over USD10.4 billion in assets, is finalizing the details for a cross-currency interest rate swap on the back of a USD500 million credit card securitization. James Lee, an associate in the treasury department at Kookmin in Seoul, said the entire issuance, made up of five-year floating rate dollar-denominated notes, will be converted into fixed won within two weeks. "We're still in the middle of negotiating the [International Swaps and Derivatives Association Master Agreement]," he added. ING Bank, the structurer for the ABS deal, will be the counterparty for the swap. He declined to comment on target rates.
The ABS notes are expected to be rated Aa3 by Moody's Investors Service and AA by Fitch Ratings. The ratings for the securitization will be the highest ratings achieved in a Korean cross-border ABS transaction without an external guarantee from a monoline insurance company. A fixed income trader at ING in Seoul declined comment, saying the deal is still live.
