...Welcome to the twelfth edition of Fitch Ratings' Covered Bonds Surveillance Snapshot. In the Fitch Voice section on p.4, we take the opportunity to describe ongoing initiatives to review certain criteria aspects for covered bonds ratings. This follows interest from market participants for more clarity and transparency on potential future criteria changes. In early September, we updated our comparative study of `B' Portfolio Loss Rates ("PLR"), which shows a marginal improvement of credit risk in the cover pools of the 118 publicly rated programmes covered in the study. The study expresses Fitch Ratings' views on the credit performance of cover pools under the agency's `B' rating stresses over the lifetime of the cover assets. `B' PLRs are available for most programmes and allow users to easily compare cover pools across the board, independently of the covered bonds rating. `B' loss rates are also reported in the Excel file alongside the quarterly surveillance snapshot. The study shows that...
