Ireland

Moody’s yesterday (Thursday) placed on review for possible downgrade mortgage covered bonds issued by AIB Mortgage Bank, Bank of Ireland Mortgage Bank and EBS Mortgage Finance. Fitch today said that a downgrade of Ireland’s sovereign rating will not have an immediate impact on its ratings of Irish covered bond programmes.

Moody’s put the Aa3 rating of public sector covered bonds issued by Depfa ACS Bank on review for downgrade today (Thursday) because of a cut in the issuer’s rating from A3 to Baa3 last Friday.

Fitch downgraded mortgage backed covered bonds issued by Anglo Irish Bank and Anglo Irish Mortgage Bank (AIMB) from AA+ to A yesterday (Tuesday), and kept the programmes on Rating Watch Negative. Meanwhile, Moody’s put several Irish banks on review for downgrade after taking the same action on the sovereign.

Moody’s has cut the ratings of Depfa plc and Depfa ACS Bank from A3 to Baa3 following a transfer of assets to the Hypo Real Estate’s wind-down entity, FMS Wertmanagement, that the rating agency said is part of a process whereby the Irish entities will be less likely to enjoy support.

Moody’s downgraded mortgaged backed covered bonds issued by Anglo Irish Bank and Anglo Irish Mortgage Bank from Aa2 to A2, on review for possible downgrade, today (Monday), because of a cut to Anglo Irish’s senior unsecured rating.

Moody’s cut covered bonds issued by Anglo Irish Bank Corporation (Anglo Irish) and Anglo Irish Mortgage Bank (AIMB) from Aaa to Aa2, on review for possible downgrade, on Friday, because of concerns over the liquidity of commercial assets backing the covered bonds. Meanwhile, Fitch put AIB Mortgage Bank’s mortgage covered securities on Rating Watch Negative.

Fitch downgraded covered bonds issued by Anglo Irish Bank Corporation and Anglo Irish Mortgage Bank (AIMB) from AAA to AA+, and placed them on Rating Watch Negative, yesterday (Thursday), after downgrading the issuers from A- to BBB+ on Wednesday because of an announcement by the Irish government that Anglo Irish will be split into an asset recovery bank and a funding bank.

Standard & Poor’s yesterday (Monday) affirmed under its revised rating methodology public sector-backed covered bonds issued by Ireland’s Depfa ACS Bank at AA, on stable outlook, and removed them from CreditWatch developing.

Moody’s last Friday downgraded Asset Covered Securities issued by Depfa ACS Bank from Aa2 to Aa3 because of a downgrade in the issuer’s rating from A2 to A3.

Moody’s yesterday (Wednesday) cut Ireland’s EBS Building Society from A2 to A3, on stable outlook, after having on Monday downgraded the sovereign by one notch.

Standard & Poor’s yesterday (Monday) upgraded WestLB Covered Bond Bank (CBB) from BBB+ to AA- and lifted its outlook from negative to stable, and changed the CreditWatch on the issuer’s covered bonds from negative to developing.

Moody’s has upgraded WestLB Covered Bond Bank from A2 to Aa1 because of a change of its ownership from WestLB to Erste Abwicklungsanstalt (EAA), a wind-down entity set up for WestLB. The development is “very favourable” for bondholders, said the rating agency.