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II. Definitions

C 52/2017 STA Effective from 1/12/2022

In general, terms in this Standard have the meanings defined in other Regulations and Standards issued by the Central Bank. In addition, for this Standard, the following terms have the meanings defined in this section.

  1. a)asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP) program is a structure that issues commercial paper to third-party investors and is backed by assets or other exposures held in a bankruptcy-remote, special purpose entity;
  2. b)Clean-up call is an option that permits securitisation exposures to be called before all of the underlying exposures or have been repaid. In the case of a traditional securitisation, this generally is accomplished by repurchasing the remaining securitisation exposures once the pool balance or outstanding securities have fallen below some specified level. In the case of a synthetic transaction, a clean-up call may take the form of a clause that extinguishes the credit protection;
  3. c)credit enhancement is a contractual arrangement in which a bank or other entity retains or assumes a securitisation exposure and, in substance, provides some degree of added protection to other parties to the transaction;
  4. d)credit-enhancing interest-only strip is an on-balance sheet asset that (i) represents a valuation of cash flows related to excess spread, and (ii) is subordinated;
  5. e)early amortization provision is a mechanism that, once triggered, accelerates the reduction of the investor’s interest in the underlying exposures of a securitisation of revolving credit facilities and allows investors to be receive pay-outs prior to the originally stated maturity of the securities issued;
  6. f)excess spread (or future margin income) is total gross finance charge collections and other income received by the trust or special purpose entity (SPE) minus certificate interest, servicing fees, charge-offs, and other senior trust or SPE expenses;
  7. g)implicit support is support provided by a bank to a securitisation in excess of its explicit contractual obligations;
  8. h)originating bank is a bank that meets either of the following conditions with regard to a particular securitisation:
    1. a.the bank originates directly or indirectly underlying exposures included in the securitisation; or
    2. b.the bank serves as a sponsor of an asset-backed commercial paper conduit or similar program that acquires exposures from third-party entities; in the context of such programs, a bank would generally be considered a sponsor and, in turn, an originator if it, in fact or in substance, manages or advises the program, places securities into the market, or provides liquidity and/or credit enhancements;
  9. i)pool is the underlying exposure or group of exposures that are the underlying instruments being securitized; these may include but are not restricted to the following: loans, commitments, asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities, corporate bonds, equity securities, and private equity investments;
  10. j)resecuritisation exposure is a securitisation exposure in which the risk associated with an underlying pool of exposures is tranched and at least one of the underlying exposures is a securitisation exposure. In addition, an exposure to one or more resecuritisation exposures is a resecuritisation exposure. An exposure resulting from re-tranching of a securitisation exposure is not a resecuritisation exposure if the bank is able to demonstrate that the cash flows to and from the bank could be replicated in all circumstances and conditions by an exposure to the securitisation of a pool of assets that contains no securitisation exposures;
  11. k)securitisation is the creation of a contractual structure under which the cash flow from an underlying pool of exposures is used to service at least two different stratified risk positions or tranches reflecting different degrees of credit risk;
  12. l)securitisation exposure is a bank exposure to a securitisation, which may include but are not restricted to the following: asset-backed securities, mortgage-backed securities, repurchased securitisation exposures, credit enhancements, liquidity facilities, interest rate or currency swaps, credit derivatives, tranched cover, and reserve accounts, such as cash collateral accounts, recorded as an asset by the originating bank;
  13. m)securitisation of revolving credit facilities is a securitisation in which one or more underlying exposures represent, directly or indirectly, current or future draws on a revolving credit facility, including but not limited to credit card exposures, home equity lines of credit, commercial lines of credit, and other lines of credit;
  14. n)senior securitisation exposure is a securitisation exposure (such as a tranche) that is effectively backed or secured by a first claim on the entire amount of the assets in the underlying securitized pool. Different maturities of several senior tranches that share pro rata loss allocation shall have no effect on the seniority of these tranches, since they benefit from the same level of credit enhancement;
  15. o)Special purpose entity (SPE) is corporation, trust, or other entity organized for a specific purpose, the activities of which are limited to those appropriate to accomplish the purpose of the SPE, and the structure of which is intended to isolate the SPE from the credit risk of an originator or seller of exposures in a securitisation. Exposures commonly are sold to an SPE in exchange for cash or other assets funded by debt that is issued by the SPE;
  16. p)simple, transparent, and comparable (STC) securitisations are less-complex securitisations that meet the requirements for simplicity, transparency, and comparability specified in the Appendix below in this Standard;
  17. q)synthetic securitisation is a structure with at least two different stratified risk positions or tranches that reflect different degrees of credit risk where credit risk of an underlying pool of exposures is transferred, in whole or in part, through the use of funded instruments (e.g., credit-linked notes) or unfunded credit derivatives or guarantees (e.g., credit default swaps) that serve to hedge the credit risk of the portfolio, such that the risk to investors depends on the performance of the underlying pool;
  18. r)traditional securitisation is a securitisation that is neither a synthetic securitisation nor a resecuritisation; and
  19. s)Tranche is a set of securities issued as part of a securitisation with a common priority claim on a common underlying pool of assets or exposures.

The Central Bank may modify these definitions pursuant to a circular or otherwise.