Sector developments and company hires in structured finance

Moody's has downgraded the ratings of  123 tranches, placed on review for upgrade two tranches and affirmed 34 tranches in  84 Italian RMBS auto ABS, consumer loan ABS and consumer CDQ ABS deals . The rating actions were prompted by the rating agency's lowering of Italy's local-currency bond ceiling to Aa3 from Aa2. This which follows the downgrade of the government of Italy's bond rating to Baa3 with stable outlook from Baa2 under review for downgrade. As a result, the Italian structured finance ratings are now capped at Italy's local currency bond ceiling of Aa3.

Royal Bank of Canada has hired three new members to its European real estate team, which  Charlie Foster as md and head of real estate,  Andrew Penny as senior advisor and Julian Livingston-Booth  as equity analyst. Foster and Penny both join from Canaccord Genuity while Livingston-Booth was previously at Goldman Sachs as an equity research analyst.

 AXA Investment Managers  and NIBC Bank have further strengthened their partnership with the offering of Dutch mortgage loans with broader features, including a long fixed interest rate period, a product that has seen higher demand from borrowers. Through this partnership, AXA IM also invests on behalf of large institutional investors in selected Dutch mortgage loans originated by NIBC based on criteria agreed in advance between AXA IM and NIBC.