Bulletin: Rabobank's Announced Sale Of Its €500 Million Mortgage Portfolio Is Ratings Neutral

PARIS (S&P Global Ratings) Dec. 18, 2017--S&P Global Ratings said today that its issuer credit ratings and outlook on The Netherlands-based Cooperatieve Rabobank U.A. (A+/Positive/A-1) are unchanged after the bank's announcement that it has sold its mortgage loan unit, Roparco Hypotheken. The business comprises a mortgage portfolio for a total outstanding amount of about €500 million. We consider that this transaction provides another demonstration of Rabobank's actively managed balance-sheet optimization strategy. The bank has launched this strategy to adapt to low interest rates and regulatory challenges. In particular, we expect that the recently announced revisions to the Basel III framework will affect the capital requirements of a number of European mortgage lenders using internal models, including Rabobank. The mortgage portfolio

...PARIS (S&P Global Ratings) Dec. 18, 2017--S&P Global Ratings said today that its issuer credit ratings and outlook on The Netherlands-based Cooperatieve Rabobank U.A. (A+/Positive/A-1) are unchanged after the bank's announcement that it has sold its mortgage loan unit, Roparco Hypotheken. The business comprises a mortgage portfolio for a total outstanding amount of about 500 million. We consider that this transaction provides another demonstration of Rabobank's actively managed balance-sheet optimization strategy. The bank has launched this strategy to adapt to low interest rates and regulatory challenges. In particular, we expect that the recently announced revisions to the Basel III framework will affect the capital requirements of a number of European mortgage lenders using internal models, including Rabobank. The mortgage portfolio transaction is neutral for our ratings on Rabobank because we have already factored in its active balance-sheet strengthening. We forecast that our risk-adjusted...

Bulletin