HOIST FINANCE AB
Fitch Ratings has affirmed
The rating actions follow Fitch's full review of the servicer's business and operations, which have demonstrated that the servicer continues to perform its activities to a high standard.
RATING ACTIONS
Entity / Debt
Rating
Prior
ABS Special Servicer
ABSS2+
Affirmed
ABSS2+
RMBS Special Servicer
RSS2
Affirmed
RSS2
Page
of 1
VIEW ADDITIONAL RATING DETAILS
Key Rating Drivers
Long Experience Servicing Unsecured Loans: Hoist Finance AB
As of
Group Strategy Change: In 2023, Hoist France began focusing on less seasoned defaulted loan portfolios. It reorganised operations to allow for more effective management of these loans. The group sold all unsecured French portfolios acquired from inception to
The effects of the changes on Hoist France's operations and assets under management have yet to fully materialise. A growth in AUM, combined with other factors, e.g. consistently low turnover, continued technological innovations that lead to increased efficiency and reduced operational risk, could have a positive business and ratings impact. Deterioration in the number of assets under management combined with an unstable corporate strategy could negatively affect the ratings.
Management Changes: Three senior managers and one middle manager have left the company since the previous review, resulting in a Fitch-calculated management turnover rate still commensurate with the '4' rating category. Hoist
Improved Management Metrics: The senior management team includes the country manager, deputy country manager and their seven direct reports, who have an average of six years' company tenure (previous review: 3.2 years). The senior management is supported by 10 middle managers whose average company tenure is six years (up from 4.8 years at previous review). The increases in average tenure across both teams resulted in improvements in the management company tenure scores of our scoring matrices.
Continued High Operational Staff Turnover: Hoist France employs 90 operational employees who manage residential and other secured and/or unsecured loans loans/accounts, whose average industry experience is commensurate with the '2' rating category. In the 12 months to the cut-off date there were 39 leavers, which equated to a Fitch calculated annualised turnover rate of 39.4% for both asset types, still in line with the '4' rating category.
The continued high turnover resulted in a worsened score for Hoist France's headcount management, reflecting Fitch's view that the measures to circumvent the turnover at previous review have not been effective.
Revised Loan Administration Scoring: The loan administration processes and controls are largely unchanged from our previous review. Fitch has revised the scoring of the loan administration processes and controls to a '2' rating category from '1' . The revision follows Fitch's updates to best practice scoring definitions, pertaining to, among other things, loan boarding, reporting and borrower relationship management.
Robust Boarding Process and Controls: In the 12 months leading to the data cut-off date, Hoist France boarded 10 portfolios valued at
Proficient Reporting: The intra-group reporting function is responsible for all reporting. There were no late or inaccurate reports in the 12 months to the cut-off date. Overall the reporting processes and controls are commensurate with the '2' rating category.
Strong Borrower Relationship Management: In 2023, Hoist France launched its borrower portal for secured loans. The portal allows borrowers to, among other things, view their accounts and update contact details. Complaints are managed by a dedicated team and are reviewed by a complaints committee at least quarterly. Overall the borrower relationship management processes remain commensurate with the '1' rating category.
Good Technology Platform: Hoist France's servicing platforms are well integrated with the key proprietary system. The core servicing system has good level of automation and includes robotic technologies. Since our previous review, Hoist France has introduced the call miner, a speech analytics tool for live audio communications. The technology enables the servicer to identify where specific words or tone of voice are used and flags these to the manager or quality control team, allowing for prompt intervention, if needed. The technology is an effective tool for monitoring calls.
Hoist
The rating action commentary is based on information provided to Fitch as at
Additional information is available on www.fitchratings.com
PARTICIPATION STATUS
The rated entity (and/or its agents) or, in the case of structured finance, one or more of the transaction parties participated in the rating process except that the following issuer(s), if any, did not participate in the rating process, or provide additional information, beyond the issuer's available public disclosure.
APPLICABLE CRITERIA
Criteria for Rating Loan Servicers (pub.
ADDITIONAL DISCLOSURES
Solicitation Status
Endorsement Policy
ENDORSEMENT STATUS
Hoist Finance AB (publ) -
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Solicitation Status
The ratings above were solicited and assigned or maintained by Fitch at the request of the rated entity/issuer or a related third party. Any exceptions follow below.
Endorsement Policy
Fitch's international credit ratings produced outside the EU or the
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