Reuters: Financial Services and Real Estate: TEXT-Fitch ups Acenden's UK primary servicer ratings

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TEXT-Fitch ups Acenden's UK primary servicer ratings Mar 30th 2012, 10:05 Fri Mar 30, 2012 6:05am EDT March 30 - Fitch Ratings has upgraded Acenden Limited's UK Primary (Prime) and Primary (Subprime) Servicer Ratings to 'RPS2+' from 'RPS2', while affirming its UK Residential Special Servicer Rating at 'RSS2'. The upgrade of the Primary Servicer Ratings reflect Acenden's continued drive to improve its innovative web payment taking capabilities, and demonstrating an increased number of payments taken via the web compared to over the phone. This has resulted in 67% reduction in telephone calls to make payments, thereby improving efficiency. Furthermore, the Primary Servicer Rating is supported by the successful installation of a new document management system across the business during 2011 that provides greater accessibility to information within the company. The ratings are supported by the stability of the senior and middle management teams together with levels of experience demonstrated by key individuals within the company. The continued development and maturity of the internal audit function since the previous Fitch review in 2011 provides the company with a strong risk management culture typically observed in major financial services organisations with higher risk profiles. Fitch believes the risk framework embedded within the company is a key strength and sets the benchmark for Fitch rated servicers across Europe. It is further confirmed by the receipt of an unqualified opinion for the Service Organisation Audit Report (SOAR) ISAE3000 undertaken in 2011 by KPMG and the achievement of ISO27001 Information Security certification during January 2012. The affirmation of the Special Servicer Rating reflects Acenden's continued demonstrable ability as a special servicing operation. Fitch notes that Acenden continues to utilise arrears strategies and loss mitigation tactics that are consistent within the UK market as well as adhering to regulatory standards surrounding 'treating customers fairly'. In the past 12 months, Acenden acquired almost 850 properties through possession, with in excess of 97% of all possessed properties being sold through estate agents, the remainder being placed in auction. Average proceeds received versus open market value stood at 98%, while taking an average of 152 days to sell properties. The performance is consistent with similarly rated UK servicers. Fitch believes that market and regulatory forces drive the longer timeframes from default to possession observed among the UK servicing market. At end-December 2011 Acenden managed 68,356 mortgage loans with an outstanding principal balance of GBP5.75bn. The entire servicing portfolio comprises non-conforming loans, with near-prime and subprime loans making up 79% of the total. The remaining 21% is split between buy-to-let, right-to-buy and a small percentage of shared ownership loans. Fitch employed its global and UK servicer rating criteria in analysing the servicer's operations and financial condition, with the former criteria including a comparison against similar UK servicers as part of the review process. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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