The transaction envisaged a credit protection on the mezzanine tranche of a synthetic securitisation in the form of an unfunded guarantee. The underlying securitised portfolio of roughly EUR775 million is a granular pool of SMEs and corporate loans originated by UniCredit Bank S.A..
The transaction has been structured in such a way as to satisfy the requirements for significant risk transfer (SRT) under the European Union’s Capital Requirements Regulation and to achieve simple, transparent and standardised (STS) eligibility (subject to all customary approvals), promoting transparency and higher transaction standards.
The closing of the deal enables UniCredit Bank S.A. to enhance its capital resilience by achieving risk-weighted asset relief, thus further expanding its lending capacity to the real economy. The Bank has committed to redeploying the risk-weighted asset relief achieved to new lending for SMEs and corporates in the country, including through to projects that support climate action and environmental sustainability.
“We are pleased to collaborate with EBRD, our longstanding partner, on our first synthetic securitization transaction, underlying our commitment to support the real economy in Romania,” said Mihaela Lupu, CEO UniCredit Bank. “By further strengthening our capital position, this transaction allows us to accelerate the lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and corporates, including by financing projects with positive climate and environmental impact.”
The transaction is part of UniCredit ARTS program related to SRT transactions and confirms UniCredit’s strategy to increasingly use SRT as an effective tool to enhance capital efficiency, with the ambition to expand it further to new asset classes and new legal entities in the Group in Central and Eastern Europe.
UniCredit has been a regular issuer of SRT transactions, successfully executing a considerable number of deals in Italy, Germany and CEE across several asset classes and in different formats. This commitment was recently acknowledged with the nomination as Credit Portfolio Manager of the year at Risk.net awards.
UniCredit Bank GmbH acted as sole arranger for UniCredit Bank S.A..