SCI CRT Awards 2020

SCI CRT Awards 2020

Thursday 3 December 2020 13:43 London/ 08.43 New York/ 21.43 Tokyo

Advisor/Service Provider of the Year: US Bank

US Bank’s global corporate trust team has established a strong presence in Europe over the past 10 years, ranking as the region’s top structured finance trustee by deal volume, according to multiple sources including Moody’s and S&P. Indeed, the firm has built a reputation for helping clients navigate complex deals and is trustee on a significant number of risk transfer trades in Europe. In light of its successful track record in the space, US Bank is SCI’s CRT Service Provider of the Year.

US Bank prides itself on having the experience, reach and technology to navigate the mechanics of challenging deals with transparency, consistency and quality of service. Together with managing intricate and unique transactions across diverse jurisdictions, the firm views its role as protecting the interests of investors and effectively engaging with all parties to a deal. Among the qualities necessary for such engagement are: agility, flexibility and responsiveness; advanced knowledge of new markets; the ability to be commercially aware, respecting a client’s time and costs; detailed cash, currency and investor reporting; and proactive communication.

Anatoly Sorin, svp, CDO and CLN relationship management at US Bank, notes: “Our clients tend to be large banks; primarily UK banks, with huge portfolios of assets. Although our clients are the issuing CRT banks, our services also benefit investors, which appreciate the quality of our reporting. Investors tend to have preferences about which trustee is appointed on a deal and we often see repeat investors, given that only a handful specialise in CRTs.”

US Bank differentiates itself from its competitors in the CRT trustee arena by being highly rated and having dedicated teams in Ireland and the UK. “If an underlying asset defaults, a certain process needs to be followed to enable the financial guarantee to continue. Verification is undertaken by an accounting firm and the asset is usually swapped out of the portfolio. But there is often a tight turnaround, the success of which can have a direct impact on investors’ rate of return,” says Sorin.

He continues: “Similarly, we often have to wait for months for deals to come to fruition and then they have to be executed speedily. The execution aspect is critical and is facilitated, in US Bank’s case, by having consistent documentation across clients.”

 

A leading magic circle law firm represents the majority of the firm’s customers. “Having high-quality and standardised documentation in place helps deals get off the ground quickly and efficiently,” Sorin notes.

 

He concludes that while CRT volume has slowed this year due to the Covid-19 fallout, December is expected to be extremely busy in terms of issuance, driven by the year-end closing of books and cleaning up of balance sheets.

 

Honourable mention: Granular Investments

Founded by former Arch and PMI Europe senior executives Giuliano Giovannetti and Richard Sullivan in 2019, Granular Investments continues to gain traction in terms of bridging the gap between the different approaches taken by insurers and banks to capital relief trades. The firm acts as arranger and adviser to the former, while providing a single point of contact for the latter to access multiple insurance counterparties.

Granular works with a panel of insurers that functions like a syndicate, comprising different risk appetites across the spectrum, including large corporate loans, SME exposures and consumer debt in the core European jurisdictions. As such, the firm has the ability to identify various sources of insurance capacity, with the aim of increasing the size and stability of the CRT market by facilitating a diversified base of protection providers.

A notable success for Granular over the awards period was its role in advising Fidelis Insurance on a large SRT deal for a major European bank, the bank’s first-ever unfunded SRT. The transaction references a €1.3bn portfolio of largely undrawn revolving credit facilities.

For complete coverage of SCI’s 2020 CRT Awards, click here.

 


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