News Archive

2021

November 2021

RBA Market Advice – Changes to Eligible Securities Operational Notes and Asset-backed Securities Maintenance

The Reserve Bank has updated the operational notes for domestic market operations pertaining to eligible securities, and amended the criteria for asset-backed securities (ABS) with revolving asset pools.

Eligible Securities Criteria

The eligible securities policy has been updated to be easier for market participants to navigate. There are no substantive changes to the policy, other than to ABS with revolving pools (see below). All securities that are currently eligible for repo will remain eligible.

The Reserve Bank has implemented a new form that must be completed to apply for repo eligibility. The spreadsheet form will no longer be accepted.

ABS issuers also no longer need to complete the Deal Data Registration and Amendment Form for new ABS. After the eligible securities application form is submitted, the Securitisation Support Centre (SSC) will contact the nominated Information Provider with deal setup instructions.

ABS Maintenance

The Reserve Bank has amended the requirements for issuers to maintain eligibility for ABS with revolving asset pools. These requirements are outlined in the operational notes. Issuers must submit an ABS maintenance form to the Reserve Bank at least 10 business days before one or more of the following events:

  • the assets in the pool change by more than 10 per cent in any monthly reporting period;
  • the transaction documents are amended; or
  • a security is reissued under a new ISIN that must be made repo-eligible on the issue date.

Issuers must also provide a ratings affirmation and insurability attestation (where applicable) to the Reserve Bank annually.

Where the assets in the pool change by less than 10 per cent in any monthly reporting period, no application is required. The Reserve Bank reserves the right to request a ratings affirmation at any time.

These requirements apply to all self-securitisations and marketed ABS with revolving asset pools.

Relevant links

Please address any questions to the eligible securities team at eligible_securities@rba.gov.au.

Risk & Compliance Department
Reserve Bank of Australia
8 November 2021

September 2021

RBA Market Advice – BBSW Fallbacks in Eligible Securities

The Reserve Bank has amended the eligibility criteria for securities accepted in domestic market operations. See Robust Fallbacks Required for BBSW Securities for a summary.

All floating rate notes (FRNs) and marketed asset-backed securities issued on or after 1 December 2022, where BBSW is the relevant interest rate for the purposes of calculating coupons, must meet the following criteria in order to be eligible for purchase by the Reserve Bank under repo:

  • Include at least one ‘robust’ and ‘reasonable and fair’ fallback for BBSW in the event that it permanently ceases to exist.
  • A ‘robust’ fallback is one that clearly specifies the method for the calculation of interest that would apply for the purposes of calculating coupon payments. The fallback must also specify a clear and unambiguous trigger event after which the fallback would apply. Acceptable fallbacks would include those that reference AONIA (including AONIA plus or minus a fixed spread). Fallbacks that reference another benchmark interest rate may also be accepted at the Reserve Bank's discretion. A fallback waterfall may additionally include a fallback to a reference rate that might exist in the future, for example forward-looking term AONIA, subject to it being declared a significant financial benchmark by ASIC at the time the fallback is triggered.
  • A ‘reasonable and fair’ fallback is one that reasonably mitigates the impact on the economic value of the security in the event the fallback is invoked. A fixed-rate fallback would not be considered reasonable and fair for the purposes of these criteria.
  • The robust and reasonable and fair fallback(s) must sit above any other fallbacks that rely on collecting dealer quotes, or on discretion – whether by the issuer, the calculation agent, or any other related or third party – in the fallback waterfall.
  • Include a fallback to apply in the case that BBSW is not available, in the case where it has not permanently ceased. This fallback must: clearly specify the method for determining the interest that would apply for the purposes of calculating coupon payments; and specify a clear and unambiguous trigger event after which the fallback would apply. An example of an acceptable fallback structure is that provided for the ‘No Index Cessation Effective Date with respect to BBSW’ circumstance in the 2020 ISDA IBOR Fallbacks Supplement. A fallback relying on collecting dealer quotes, or on discretion by the issuer, the calculation agent, or any other party related to the security must not sit at the top of the fallback waterfall.

All self-securitisations, regardless of the date of issue, will also be required to include at least one robust and reasonable and fair fallback in order to be eligible. The Reserve Bank will engage with self-securitisation issuers and give at least 12 months' notice before enforcing this requirement.

FRNs and marketed asset-backed securities issued before 1 December 2022 will not be subject to this requirement for eligibility. Nevertheless, the inclusion of robust and reasonable and fair fallbacks for such securities, depending on their length of time to maturity, is recommended as a matter of prudent risk management.

For further information please contact the Eligible Securities Team at eligible_securities@rba.gov.au.

Risk & Compliance Department
Reserve Bank of Australia
13 September 2021

2020

April 2020

RBA Market Advice – Changes to Margin Arrangements for ABS Interest Rate Swap Providers

The RBA has amended the margin arrangements for asset-backed securities (ABS) where RBA counterparties are ‘related’ to securities provided as collateral. The amendment is to the additional discount (i.e. haircut) applied to ABS when the counterparty provides an interest rate swap to the ABS trust.

Previously, a flat 3 per cent additional discount applied where the notional principal of the interest rate swap was less than or equal to 25 per cent of the value of the collateral pool. Where the share was greater than 25 per cent, no value was attributed to the proportion of the interest rate swap greater than 25 per cent.

Effective from 27 April, the additional discount will increase linearly, from 0 to 6 per cent, up to a share of 50 per cent of the value of the collateral pool. Where the share is greater than 50 per cent, no value will be attributed to the proportion of the interest rate swap greater than 50 per cent.

Table 1: Additional Discounts to the Market Value of ABS
for Interest Rate Swap Counterparties
Notional swap principal as a share of the value of the collateral pool Percentage points
Previous policy
≤25 per cent
3
>25 per cent
3 + ( N o t i o n a l s w a p p r i n c i p a l C o l l a t e r a l p o o l ) × 100 25 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagCart1ev2aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLnhiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq=Jc9vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0=yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr=xfr=xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaamivaiaadkfacaWGjbWaaSbaaSqaaiaadshaaeqaaOGaeyypa0JaamivaiaadkfacaWGjbWaaSbaaSqaaiaadshacqGHsislcaWGKbaabeaakiabgEna0oaabmaabaGaaGymaiabgUcaRmaalaaabaGaam4qaiaadggacaWGZbGaamiAaiaaykW7caWGsbGaamyyaiaadshacaWGLbWaaSbaaSqaaiaadshacqGHsislcaWGKbaabeaakiabgEna0kaadsgaaeaacaaIZaGaaGOnaiaaiwdacqGHxdaTcaaIXaGaaGimaiaaicdaaaaacaGLOaGaayzkaaaaaa@5ABC@
New policy
≤50 per cent
6 50 × ( N o t i o n a l s w a p p r i n c i p a l C o l l a t e r a l p o o l ) × 100 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagCart1ev2aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLnhiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq=Jc9vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0=yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr=xfr=xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaamivaiaadkfacaWGjbWaaSbaaSqaaiaadshaaeqaaOGaeyypa0JaamivaiaadkfacaWGjbWaaSbaaSqaaiaadshacqGHsislcaWGKbaabeaakiabgEna0oaabmaabaGaaGymaiabgUcaRmaalaaabaGaam4qaiaadggacaWGZbGaamiAaiaaykW7caWGsbGaamyyaiaadshacaWGLbWaaSbaaSqaaiaadshacqGHsislcaWGKbaabeaakiabgEna0kaadsgaaeaacaaIZaGaaGOnaiaaiwdacqGHxdaTcaaIXaGaaGimaiaaicdaaaaacaGLOaGaayzkaaaaaa@5ABC@
>50 per cent
6 + ( N o t i o n a l s w a p p r i n c i p a l C o l l a t e r a l p o o l ) × 100 50 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagCart1ev2aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLnhiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq=Jc9vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0=yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr=xfr=xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaamivaiaadkfacaWGjbWaaSbaaSqaaiaadshaaeqaaOGaeyypa0JaamivaiaadkfacaWGjbWaaSbaaSqaaiaadshacqGHsislcaWGKbaabeaakiabgEna0oaabmaabaGaaGymaiabgUcaRmaalaaabaGaam4qaiaadggacaWGZbGaamiAaiaaykW7caWGsbGaamyyaiaadshacaWGLbWaaSbaaSqaaiaadshacqGHsislcaWGKbaabeaakiabgEna0kaadsgaaeaacaaIZaGaaGOnaiaaiwdacqGHxdaTcaaIXaGaaGimaiaaicdaaaaacaGLOaGaayzkaaaaaa@5ABC@
Table 2: Effect of Policy Change
Interest Rate Swap Notional Value Share of Pool
per cent
Additional Discount Previous Policy
per cent
Additional Discount New Policy
per cent
Change on Implementation
percentage points
10 3 1.2 −1.8
15 3 1.8 −1.2
20 3 2.4 −0.6
25 3 3.0 0.0
30 8 3.6 −4.4
40 18 4.8 −13.2
50 28 6.0 −22.0
75 53 31.0 −22.0
100 78 56.0 −22.0

For more details, please see https://www.rba.gov.au/mkt-operations/resources/tech-notes/margin-ratios.html, or contact the Eligible Securities Team: eligible_securities@rba.gov.au.

Risk & Compliance Department
Reserve Bank of Australia
24 April 2020

RBA Market Advice – Reporting loans with COVID-19 repayment deferrals

Some securitised loans may have been granted repayment deferrals relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. For reporting loan-level data to the Securitisation System, issuers should follow the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority's (APRA's) approach to COVID-19 support. That is, issuers need not treat repayment holidays or deferrals as arrears or restructuring in this case.

This is consistent with the Bank's existing guidance on loan-level reporting, which provides that a loan should be flagged as performing where it is on or ahead of schedule according to the lender’s internal methodology. Beyond this, there is no requirement for loans with COVID-19 payment deferrals to be flagged in any special way in the Securitisation System.

For further information please contact the Eligible Securities Team at eligible_securities@rba.gov.au.

Risk & Compliance Department
Reserve Bank of Australia
9 April 2020

March 2020

RBA Market Advice - Amendment to the margin band for ‘other’ asset-backed securities

The RBA has amended the margin band that applies to new repo-eligible other asset-backed securities (ABS). The margin band is now 15 – 40 per cent (previously 15 – 20 per cent) for all residual maturities. The margin on existing eligible securities are not affected by this change. There is no change to the repo eligibility criteria for ABS.

The margin applied within this band depends on the seniority and structure of the security. Unsubordinated tranches from less structured securities will generally receive the lowest margin within the margin band. Subordinated tranches will receive higher margins. Securities that are more structured will also receive higher margins. The actual margin applied is available on request.

Other ABS includes securities backed by assets other than residential mortgages as well as securities backed by residential mortgages where less than 90 per cent of the value of the collateral pool held by the issuing trust comprises domestic, full-doc, insurable residential mortgages.

The amended margin band is available on the RBA's Margin Ratios page. For further information please contact the Eligible Securities Team at eligible_securities@rba.gov.au.

Risk & Compliance Department
Reserve Bank of Australia
23 March 2020

2019

January 2019

RBA Market Advice – Amendment to Ending Balance reporting requirement

The RBA has amended the Ending Balance reporting guidance for RMBS, CMBS and OABS effective immediately, in light of feedback from information providers. The resubmission deadline for updating the Ending Balance where the forecast falls outside of the acceptable range has been extended from the Report Date to within five business days of the Report Date.

Hence, a trust may submit ahead of the Report Date with a forecast for the collection account Ending Balance. However, if on the Report Date this forecast falls outside the acceptable range, the trust must resubmit within five business days.

There is no change to the requirement that a valid securitisation submission be made by the Report Date. Eligibility will be revoked where no submission has been received for an eligible trust by the Report Date.

The amended reporting guidance is available on Data to be Reported.

For further information please contact the Securitisation Support Centre at Securitisation Support Centre or call 1800 919 211.

Securitisation System User Agreement

The Securitisation System User Agreement is an agreement between the Reserve Bank and each Information Provider that is entered into via the Securitisation System (which also takes effect as an agreement between the Reserve Bank and each natural person that uses the Securitisation System on behalf of an Information Provider). The Agreement includes undertakings by the Reserve Bank regarding the confidentiality of the information provided via the Securitisation System. It also includes undertakings by the Information Provider regarding privacy and data quality.

The Securitisation System User Agreement will be updated by the Reserve Bank on the 1st of March 2019 and includes the following changes:

  • The Reserve Bank can use securitisations data to perform any of its functions or exercise any of its powers under any law (Clause 1.2(b)(i), which already permits use under the Reserve Bank Act 1959 (Cth))
  • The Reserve Bank can disclose statistical information or analysis derived from the securitisations data, provided that such statistical information or analysis does not disclose information about any identifiable individual or entity. (Clause 1.2(b)(v), which already permitted this for the purpose of ‘publication’, has been amended)
  • The Reserve Bank can liaise directly with certain parties to the relevant securitisation (including the original source of the securitisations data) in addition to the Information Provider in order to, among other things, address questions or issues arising from the data that has been submitted. This now includes instances where the Information Provider (i.e. the entity that submits securitisations data to the RBA) is a different entity from the entity that is the original source of the data. (Clause 1.2(b)(vi))
  • The parties now agree the agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the parties in connection with its subject matter. (Clause 7.1(b))

The updated User Agreement will be available via the Securitisation System on 1st of March 2019. The User Agreement takes effect between the Reserve Bank, the User and the relevant Information Provider when the User clicks ‘I agree’ to the User Agreement. A User is prompted to click ‘I agree’ the very first time they login to the Securitisation System after the User Agreement has been updated. Once the latest version of the User Agreement has been agreed to by a User, they will not be prompted again to agree to the User Agreement on subsequent logins (unless and until the User Agreement is further revised).

Any queries on the above should be directed to the Securitisation Support Centre.

Notification of Validation Rules update

Updates to the validation rules will be applied to the Securitisation System effective Wednesday, 2 January 2019.

Information regarding the validation rules can be viewed from the Securitisation System Active Rules [XLSX] document located in the Validation Rules section of the Securitisation Industry Forum.

Any queries on the above should be directed to the Securitisation Support Centre.

2018

November 2018

Notification of Validation Rules update

Updates to the validation rules will be applied to the Securitisation System effective Thursday, 1 November 2018.

Information regarding the activation of validation rules can be viewed from the Securitisation System Active Rules [XLSX] document located in the Validation Rules section of the Securitisation Industry Forum.

Any queries or feedback on the above should be directed to the Securitisation Support Centre.

October 2018

Validation Rules update postponed

Updates to the Securitisation System Active Rules [XLSX] document which were due to become active from Tuesday, 2 October 2018 have now been postponed until further notice.

Notification on future rule updates will be made on this page in due course.

For further information please contact the Securitisation Support Centre at ssc@rba.gov.au or 1800 919 211.

Notification of Validation Rules update

Updates to the validation rules will be applied to the Securitisation System effective Tuesday, 2 October 2018.

Information regarding the activation of validation rules can be viewed from the Securitisation System Active Rules [XLSX] document located in the Validation Rules section of the Securitisation Industry Forum.

Any queries or feedback on the above should be directed to the Securitisation Support Centre.

August 2018

Notification of Validation Rules update

Updates to the validation rules will be applied to the Securitisation System effective Wednesday, 1 August 2018.

The RBA has nominated a ‘Rule Severity Set to Fail’ date of 1 November 2018 for the rules relating to the use of the ‘ND5’ code at the loan level. A tolerance of 50 will apply to each of these rules, meaning that a submission will pass a given rule if the ‘ND5’ code is used in circumstances not allowed for by the rule for up to 50 loans.

Information regarding the activation of validation rules can be viewed from the Securitisation System Active Rules [XLSX] document located in the Validation Rules section of the Securitisation Industry Forum.

Any queries or feedback on the above should be directed to the Securitisation Support Centre at ssc@rba.gov.au or 1800 919 211.

June 2018

Notification of Validation Rules update

The RBA has deferred the ‘Rule Severity Set to Fail’ date of the rules relating to ND1 use that were announced in February 2018. These rules will remain at a ‘warning’ severity for the time being.

Information regarding the activation of validation rules can be viewed from the Securitisation System Active Rules [XLSX] document located in the Validation Rules section of the Securitisation Industry Forum.

For further information please contact the Securitisation Support Centre at ssc@rba.gov.au or 1800 919 211.

April 2018

Changes to the Securitisation System Reporting Guidance

Alignment with Economic and Financial Statistics (EFS) definitions

The RBA has updated the RMBS reporting guidance to align the definition of two loan-level fields with those that will be implemented in the modernised Economic and Financial Statistics (EFS) collection. As flagged in the announcement in October 2017, the two fields affected by the update are:

  • Property purpose. This field should be reported according to the usage of the funds that have been borrowed, not the usage of the property posted as the main security of the loan. Where there is doubt or ambiguity over whether a loan is for an owner-occupied or investment property, information providers (IPs) should assume that the property purpose is for an investment.
  • First home buyer flag. IPs may no longer rely on first home owner grant data to populate this field (i.e. investor first home buyers and others not eligible for first home owner grants must also be captured).

The full changes can be found under Change ID-56 in the updated RMBS reporting guidance. IPs will be expected to adhere to the new definitions for all loans originated from 1 March 2019 onwards, when ADIs and registered financial institutions will commence reporting to APRA under the updated EFS requirements. However, institutions are strongly encouraged to report all loans according to these new definitions where feasible. Institutions may transition to the new definitions prior to 1 March 2019 and should notify the RBA at ssc@rba.gov.au if this occurs. Submissions made prior to the change will not need to be revised. For further information on the EFS reporting requirements see ‘Definitions standard and guidance’ published on APRA's website

Other changes to the reporting guidance

The RBA has also made a number of other minor changes to the RMBS, CMBS and OABS reporting guidance documents. These changes aim to provide additional clarity on the RBA's expectations around the reporting of certain fields in light of queries from IPs in recent times. There are two changes that the RBA would like to draw IPs’ attention to:

  • Origination date settlement date. The RBA has removed the option of reporting ‘No data’ code ND1 for this field. Issuers reporting this value prior to 1 July 2018 will receive a warning. From 1 July 2018 onwards, use of this ND code will cause a submission to fail.
  • Utilisation of exemption from reporting income data for loans originated prior to 1 January 2010. IPs utilising this exemption should report ND1 for the affected loans, not ND5. IPs that continue to report ND5 in these circumstances will receive warnings for rule LN0066(ND5). It is expected that this rule will switch to a fail severity (with a small tolerance) at some point in the future.

Below are the updated reporting guidance documents:

Consolidated RMBS guidance [XLS]
Consolidated CMBS guidance [XLS]
Consolidated Other ABS Reporting Guidance [XLS]

Please contact the Securitisation Support Centre at ssc@rba.gov.au or 1800 919 211 to seek further clarification.

March 2018

RBA Market Advice – Removal of the 7 day reporting allowance

Effective today, the RBA is aligning the deadline for reporting securitisation data to the RBA with the monthly distribution date for asset-backed securities (i.e. the 7 day reporting allowance is being removed). Any submissions not made by the monthly distribution date will result in securities having their eligibility status revoked.

Securities that lose eligibility due to late reporting will remain ineligible until all outstanding submissions related to that security have been made and a subsequent submission has been completed successfully by the due date. As a result, missing the reporting deadline will result in securities being ineligible for repo with the Reserve Bank for at least a month and possibly longer if a submitter misses the deadline for more than one consecutive month.

Information Providers can contact the Securitisation Support Centre before the deadline to request an extension if they anticipate having trouble meeting the deadline in a given month. These requests will be assessed on a case-by-case basis and will typically only be granted under exceptional circumstances.

For further information please contact the Securitisation Support Centre at ssc@rba.gov.au or 1800 919 211.

February 2018

Notification of Validation Rules update

Updates to the validation rules will be applied to the Securitisation System effective Thursday, 1 February 2018.

Information regarding the activation of validation rules can be viewed from the Securitisation System Active Rules [XLSX] document located in the Validation Rules section of the Securitisation Industry Forum.

Any queries on the above should be directed to the Securitisation Support Centre.

2017

December 2017

Reminder of the Upcoming Removal of the 7 day reporting allowance

As announced on 1 March 2017, the RBA will align the deadline for reporting securitisation data to the RBA with the monthly distribution date for asset-backed securities (i.e. the 7 day reporting allowance is being removed). This change will take effect on 1 March 2018, after which any submissions not made by the monthly distribution date will result in securities having their eligibility status revoked.

Securities that lose eligibility due to late reporting will remain ineligible until all outstanding submissions related to that security have been made and a subsequent submission has been completed successfully by the due date. As a result, missing the reporting deadline will result in securities being ineligible for repo with the Reserve Bank for at least a month and possibly longer if a submitter misses the deadline for more than one consecutive month.

Information Providers should contact the Securitisation Support Centre (ssc@rba.gov.au or 1800 919 211) as soon as possible if they anticipate having difficulty adhering to this requirement by 1 March 2018.

Notification of Validation Rules update

Updates to the validation rules will be applied to the Securitisation System effective Friday, 1 December 2017.

Information regarding the validation rules can be viewed from the Securitisation System Active Rules [XLSX] document located in the Validation Rules section of the Securitisation Industry Forum.

Any queries on the above should be directed to the Securitisation Support Centre.

November 2017

Notification of Validation Rules update

Updates to the validation rules will be applied to the Securitisation System effective Wednesday, 1 November 2017.

A number of loan-level rules have been introduced this month to help Information Providers (IPs) adhere to the updated guidance around the use of ND5 – data not applicable – that was published in July 2017. Following feedback from IPs, the RBA is investigating the feasibility of applying a tolerance to these rules, so that a passing submission is still achievable when there is data missing for a small number of loans. As a result, a ‘Rule Severity Set to Fail’ date has not been nominated and these rules will remain at a ‘warning’ severity (with no tolerance) for the time being.

Information regarding the activation of validation rules can be viewed from the Securitisation System Active Rules [XLSX] document located in the Validation Rules section of the Securitisation Industry Forum.

Any queries on the above should be directed to the Securitisation Support Centre.

October 2017

Upcoming Changes to the RMBS Reporting Guidance

The RBA will publish an update to the RMBS reporting guidance in early 2018 to bring the definition of loan-level fields into line with those in the Economic and Financial Statistics (EFS) collection, following the publication of the EFS reporting requirements in August 2017. This is to ensure consistency in the data reported under these two reporting regimes and streamline reporting requirements for financial institutions.

The changes are expected to be fairly minor and concentrated in a small number of fields, with two possible exceptions:

  • Property purpose. The RMBS reporting guidance currently defines property purpose in terms of the usage of the property posted as the main security for the loan (i.e. investment, owner-occupied or other). However, the EFS Collection requires property purpose to be reported according to the usage of the funds that have been borrowed. For example, a loan that is used to purchase or renovate a property would be classified as an owner-occupier loan if the property to be purchased or renovated meets the definition of owner-occupied (and would be classified as an investor loan otherwise). If funds are borrowed for purposes other than housing (e.g. travel, business), the purpose would be classified as ‘other’ even if the loan is secured against a property. In addition, the definition of owner-occupied in EFS has been clarified to strictly relate to the borrower's principal place of residence, which may be narrower than the definition currently being used for reporting purposes by financial institutions.
  • First home buyer flag. The EFS collection clarifies that institutions must not rely solely on first home owner grants to identify first home buyers (i.e. they must also capture investor first home buyers). The RMBS reporting guidance currently allows for information providers (IPs) to rely on first home owner grant data. This allowance will be removed.

Information providers (IPs) will be expected to adhere to the new definitions for all loans originated from March 2019 onwards, when ADIs and registered financial institutions will commence reporting to APRA under the updated EFS requirements. However, institutions are strongly encouraged to report all loans according to these new definitions where feasible and may transition to the new definitions prior to March 2019. Submissions made prior to the change will not need to be revised.

For further information on the EFS reporting requirements see the ‘Definitions standard and guidance’ published on APRA's website.

Please contact the Securitisation Support Centre as ssc@rba.gov.au or 1800 919 211 if you have any concerns with the proposed changes or to suggest fields where further clarification may be useful.

September 2017

Notification of Validation Rules update

Updates to the validation rules will be applied to the Securitisation System effective Friday, 1 September 2017.

Information regarding the activation of validation rules can be viewed from the Securitisation System Active Rules [XLSX] document located in the Validation Rules section of the Securitisation Industry Forum.

Any queries on the above should be directed to the Securitisation Support Centre.

August 2017

Notification of Validation Rules update

Updates to the validation rules will be applied to the Securitisation System effective Tuesday, 1 August 2017.

Information regarding the activation of validation rules can be viewed from the Securitisation System Active Rules [XLSX] document located in the Validation Rules section of the Securitisation Industry Forum.

Any queries on the above should be directed to the Securitisation Support Centre.

July 2017

Changes to the Securitisation System Reporting Guidance

The RBA has updated the Securitisation System reporting guidance. The updated guidance is unchanged from the draft version published on 1 June 2017. The RBA will be implementing a number of validation rules from August 2017 that will assist issuers in meeting the updated requirements. These validation rules will initially be set to a ‘warning’ severity, before switching to a ‘fail’ severity from 1 July 2018.

As part of the industry consultation phase for this reporting guidance update, the RBA received a number of questions on the data validation process. The exact form of these rules, including any tolerances that may be applicable, will be announced when the rules are switched on to ‘warning’. The RBA will batch together similar rules where possible to ensure that necessary system changes for Information Providers can be completed efficiently.

Below are the updated reporting guidance documents:

RMBS guidance [XLS]
CMBS guidance [XLS]
OABS guidance [XLS]

For further information or to provide comments please contact the Securitisation Support Centre at ssc@rba.gov.au or 1800 919 211.

June 2017

Changes to the Securitisation System Reporting Guidance

The RBA has made a number of changes to the Securitisation System reporting guidance to strengthen data quality in the system and address common areas of confusion in the existing guidance. Draft versions of the updated guidance are published below. Information Providers (IPs) are invited to provide comments to the Securitisation Support Centre (SSC) by Friday 23 June 2017. Final versions will be published on the SIF on Monday 3 July 2017.

IPs are encouraged to begin reporting to the new guidance as soon as is practical. To assist with this the RBA will be switching on a number of validation rules from August 2017 onwards that will provide submitters with a ‘warning’ that their submission is not consistent with the updated guidance. These validation rules will not switch to a ‘fail’ severity, which results in a submission being rejected from the system, until 1 July 2018 (i.e. IPs have 12 months to bring their submissions into line with the updated guidance).

There are no new data fields or changes to the structure of the existing XML templates. Instead, the changes represent a limiting or expansion of the available options for some fields, additional guidance to help IPs understand what is expected for certain fields/scenarios or changes to the frequency of data updates that are required. The main changes are as follows:

  • The static ‘issue date’ stratifications required for ‘Other ABS’ will need to be updated each month with data as at the collateral date. This will allow the RBA and other data users to more effectively monitor changes in the composition of the collateral pool over time, particularly for deals with revolving collateral pools.
  • The addition of a list option ‘8 – Foreclosed’ within the acceptable range of responses for the loan account status field in the RMBS and CMBS templates. This addition simplifies the reporting of loans going through foreclosure and makes clear when a loan should be considered active/in the collateral pool or inactive/out of the collateral pool.
  • Additional guidance around the reporting of loans ‘exiting the pool’. This change clarifies the reporting requirements for loans in the first month that they are inactive/out of the collateral pool, particularly for loans that have completed the foreclosure process (see the ‘Guidance Notes’ within the RMBS and CMBS guidance documents).
  • Restricting the use of ‘No Data’ (ND) codes.
    • ND2, ND3 & ND4 will no longer be accepted by the system. These ND codes were designed to assist in the transition to reporting to the RBA and are no longer relevant.
    • ND1 – Data not collected at loan origination – will not be allowed for loans originated on or after 1 July 2018. ND1 may be used for loans originated prior to this date but the RBA reserves the right to revoke repo eligibility for inappropriate or excessive use of the ND1 code.
  • Additional guidance on when the use of ND5 – data not applicable – is appropriate for loan-level fields. In particular, the changes make clear that ND5 should not be used for active loans/loans in the collateral pool, unless the field is genuinely not applicable. Further guidance around when an ND5 might be appropriate for specific loan-level fields is also provided.

Below are the draft versions of the updated reporting guidance documents:

RMBS guidance [XLS]
CMBS guidance [XLS]
OABS guidance [XLS]

For further information or to provide comments please contact the Securitisation Support Centre at ssc@rba.gov.au or 1800 919 211.

May 2017

Notification of Validation Rules update

Updates to the validation rules will be applied to the Securitisation System effective Monday, 1 May 2017.

Information regarding the activation of validation rules can be viewed from the Securitisation System Active Rules [xlsx] document located in the Validation Rules section of the Securitisation Industry Forum.

Any queries on the above should be directed to the Securitisation Support Centre.

April 2017

Notification of Validation Rules update

Updates to the validation rules will be applied to the Securitisation System effective Monday, 3 April 2017.

Information regarding the activation of validation rules can be viewed from the Securitisation System Active Rules [xlsx] document located in the Validation Rules section of the Securitisation Industry Forum.

Any queries on the above should be directed to the Securitisation Support Centre.

March 2017

Notification of Validation Rules update

Updates to the validation rules will be applied to the Securitisation System effective Wednesday, 1 March 2017.

Information regarding the activation of validation rules can be viewed from the Securitisation System Active Rules [xlsx] document located in the Validation Rules section of the Securitisation Industry Forum.

Any queries on the above should be directed to the Securitisation Support Centre.

Notification of Update to Technical Notes for Domestic Market Operations

The Technical Notes for Domestic Market Operations have been updated effective Wednesday, 1 March 2017. The main changes are outlined below.

Penalty for late reporting

Ongoing eligibility for asset-backed securities (ABS) is contingent on a monthly submission being made to the Reserve Bank’s Securitisation System within 7 calendar days of the monthly anniversary of the distribution date for the asset-backed securities. Currently, submissions that miss this reporting deadline can result in the corresponding securities having their eligibility status revoked, with eligibility reinstated once the missed submission has been successfully submitted to the system.

Effective 1 April 2017, securities that lose eligibility due to late reporting will remain ineligible until all outstanding submissions related to that security have been made and a subsequent submission has been completed successfully by the due date. As a result, missing the reporting deadline will result in securities being ineligible for repo with the Reserve Bank for at least a month and possibly longer if a submitter misses the deadline for more than one consecutive month.

Information Providers can contact the Securitisation Support Centre before the deadline to request an extension if they anticipate having trouble meeting the deadline in a given month. These requests will be assessed on a case-by-case basis and will typically only be granted under exceptional circumstances.

Removal of the 7 day reporting allowance

As foreshadowed at the ASF conference in November 2016, the RBA is planning to align the deadline for reporting to the RBA with the distribution date for the asset-backed securities, which will allow the RBA and other permitted users to price and assess the credit risk of these securities in a more timely manner. This change will take effect on 1 March 2018, at which point submissions will be due on the monthly anniversary of the distribution date (i.e. the 7 day allowance is being removed). From this date onwards, any submissions not made by the monthly anniversary of the distribution date will be subject to the policy on late submissions outlined above.

For further information please contact the Securitisation Support Centre at ssc@rba.gov.au or 1800 919 211.

February 2017

Notification of Validation Rules update

Updates to the validation rules will be applied to the Securitisation System effective Wednesday, 1 February 2017. Further information has been added to the Validation Rules page.

Information regarding active validation rules can be viewed from the Securitisation System Active Rules document located in the Validation Rules section of the Securitisation Industry Forum.

Any queries on the above process should be directed to the Securitisation Support Centre.

2016

December 2016

Notification of Validation Rules update

Updates to the validation rules will be applied to the Securitisation System effective Thursday, 1 December 2016.

Information regarding the activation of validation rules can be viewed from the Securitisation System Active Rules document located in Validation Rules section of the Securitisation Industry Forum.

Any queries on the above process should be directed to the Securitisation Support Centre.

November 2016

Notification of Update to Technical Notes for Domestic Market Operations

The Technical Notes for Domestic Market Operations have been updated effective Monday, 14 November 2016.

The Eligible Securities web page now includes information about the status of outstanding repo eligibility applications and securities that have been made ineligible for failing to comply with the mandatory reporting requirements for asset-backed securities (see Outstanding Repo Eligibility Applications and Ineligible Securities).

Repo eligibility will only be assessed by the Reserve Bank once all of the required documentation has been provided, including a Deal Data Registration and Amendment Form.

Queries on the status of outstanding applications and ineligible securities should be directed to FM Eligible Securities at Eligible_Securities@rba.gov.au.

Notification of Validation Rules update

Updates to the validation rules will be applied to the Securitisation System effective Thursday, 3 November 2016.

Information regarding the activation of validation rules can be viewed from the Securitisation System Active Rules [XLSX] document located in Validation Rules section of the Securitisation Industry Forum.

Any queries on the above process should be directed to the Securitisation Support Centre.

October 2016

Notification of Validation Rules update

Updates to the validation rules will be applied to the Securitisation System effective Tuesday, 4 October 2016.

Information regarding the activation of validation rules can be viewed from the Securitisation System Active Rules [XLSX] document located in Validation Rules section of the Securitisation Industry Forum.

Any queries on the above process should be directed to the Securitisation Support Centre.

September 2016

Notification of Validation Rules update

As previously communicated, the RBA will progressively introduce more automated validation rules to further ensure data quality.

The RBA will communicate the activation of the validation rules through the Securitisation System Active Rules [XLSX] document located in Validation Rules section of the Securitisation Industry Forum. The validation rules will typically be introduced with the ‘Warning’ severity for a stated duration, and then updated to a ‘Fail’ severity thereafter.

Please see the Securitisation System Active Rules [XLSX] document for detailed information.

Any queries on the above process should be directed to the Securitisation Support Centre.

August 2016

Securitisation System Data Validation

Please be advised further clarification has been provided to the Securitisation System Validations Guidance on the SIF website.

Details to the Validations Guidance can be viewed from the following link: Securitisation System Validations Guidance.

July 2016

Securitisation System Data Validation

In addition to our previous communication:

The Securitisation System now checks submitted ND code values against published guidance for the relevant asset class and applies a small number of validation rules. An invalid ND code or failure of a validation rule will result in the submission being rejected, with the reason for any failures listed in the event log.

Any submission returning a ‘Warning’ result is accepted by the system, similar to a ‘Pass’ result. The ‘Warning’ feedback identifies a field or rule the RBA would like the issuer and information provider to review in their future submissions, as the ‘Warning’ result will (if unchanged) become a ‘Fail’ result at some point in the future.

Further checks on the below list of validation rules are now being carried out by the Securitisation System:

Rule Name Description
AH0003 - Authority Holder.ABN - Consistency Authority Holder ABN is eleven digits in length and conforms with Australian Business Number check-digit.
AP0006 - Account Provider.ABN - Consistency Account Provider ABN is eleven digits in length and conforms with the Australian Business Number check-digit.
CP0005 - Credit Enhancement Provider.ABN - Consistency Credit Enhancement Provider ABN is eleven digits in length and conforms with Australian Business Number check-digit.
CP0014 - Credit Enhancement Provider - Credit Enhancement Currency - In List Credit Enhancement Facility currency denomination conforms with ISO 4217 codes. For example - the Australian dollar is represented as AUD while the US dollar is represented as USD.
DL0001 - Deal.Collateral Date - Consistency Collateral Date is less than or equal to Report Date.
DL0003 - Deal.Collection Period Begin Date - Consistency Collection Period Begin Date is less than Collection Period End Date.
DL0006 - Deal.Senior Fees and Expenses - Consistency Senior Fees and Expenses is non-negative value.
DL0007 - Deal.Remittance Frequency - In List Remittance Frequency exists in list provided.
DL0008 - Deal.Collection Period Frequency - In List Collection Period Frequency exists in list provided.
LM0003 - LMI Provider.ABN - Consistency LMI Provider ABN is eleven digits in length and conforms with Australian Business Number check-digit.
LP0004 - Liquidity Provider.ABN - Consistency Liquidity Provider ABN is eleven digits in length and conforms with Australian Business Number check-digit.
LP0014 - Liquidity Provider.Facility Currency - In List Liquidity Facility currency denomination conforms with ISO 4217 codes. For example - the Australian dollar is represented as AUD while the US dollar is represented as USD.
OR0003 - Originator.ABN - Consistency Originator ABN is eleven digits in length and conforms with Australian Business Number check-digit.
PR0002 - Pool Rollups.Loan Currency - In List Pool Rollup Loan Currency conforms with ISO 4217 codes. For example - the Australian dollar is represented as AUD while the US dollar is represented as USD.
PR0004 - Pool Rollups.Contract Currency - In List Pool Rollup Contract Currency conforms with ISO 4217 codes. For example - the Australian dollar is represented as AUD while the US dollar is represented as USD.
RL0004 - Role.ABN - Consistency Role ABN is eleven digits in length and conforms with Australian Business Number check-digit.
RT0007 - Rating.ABN - Consistency Rating Agency ABN is eleven digits in length and conforms with Australian Business Number check-digit.
SA0002 - Signature Authority.ABN - Consistency Signature Authority ABN is eleven digits in length and conforms with Australian Business Number check-digit.
SH0005 - Swap or Hedge Provider.ABN - Consistency Swap or Hedge Provider ABN is eleven digits in length and conforms with Australian Business Number check-digit.
SH0022 - Swap or Hedge Provider.Pay Leg Currency - In List Pay Leg Currency conforms with ISO 4217 codes. For example - the Australian dollar is represented as AUD while the US dollar is represented as USD.
SH0036 - Swap or Hedge Provider.Receive Leg Currency - In List Receive Leg Currency conforms with ISO 4217 codes. For example - the Australian dollar is represented as AUD while the US dollar is represented as USD.
SL0003 - Seller.ABN - Consistency Seller ABN is eleven digits in length and conforms with Australian Business Number check-digit.
SP0002 - Sponsor.ABN - Consistency Sponsor ABN is eleven digits in length and conforms with Australian Business Number check-digit.
SR0004 - Servicer.ABN - Consistency Servicer ABN is eleven digits in length and conforms with Australian Business Number check-digit.

If there are any concerns or issues, please refer to the Guidance Notes or contact the Securitisation Support Centre.

Notification of Completed Maintenance

Maintenance to the Securitisation production environment has been completed.

The RBA is looking to continuously improve the quality of data in the Securitisation System. As part of this, the System will now provide additional feedback on submissions based on the published guidance. In particular, the System will no longer accept invalid ND (No Data) codes and data inconsistencies identified by a small number of data validation rules. Over time, the number of data validation rules will be expanded and non-compliance may result in submissions not being accepted by the Securitisation System. To manage the impact, the RBA will contact individual Information Providers when it thinks that rules will have an impact on their reporting. Analysis by the RBA of recent data submissions suggests that the latest changes will have minimal impact on reporting.

As always, if you have any issue with reporting, contact the SSC and we will assist in identifying the reporting issue.

2015

October 2015

July 2015

Securitisation Reporting Tips – Latest Learnings

The Bank is continuing to observe some common errors in data submissions. Correct data is a requirement for eligibility but it is also important because the submitted data are used by the Bank to determine repo margins, valuations and restrictions on the use of asset backed securities by related parties.

In order to ensure that the calculations of margins are correct for all securities and counterparties, it is recommended that particular attention be paid to the ‘Ending Pool Balance’ (Pool Rollups node), ‘Ending Balances’ in the Account Provider Node and entries for the ‘Ending Amount Available’ in the Liquidity Provider node. These fields play a critical role in the determination of the base margin and additional discounts used for liquidity providers and the collections account provider to repo eligible asset backed securities. More specifically care is required for the following reasons:

  • ‘Ending Pool Balance’ – this is a crucial denominator in many of the Bank’s additional discount calculations as well as the determination of whether an ABS should be classified as standard or non-standard ABS (with the resulting variation in the base margin applicable to all counterparties).
  • ‘Ending Balance’ in the Account Provider node –
    • this is particularly important because the Collections Account additional discount is based on the proportion of the Ending Pool Balance represented by the Ending Balance of the Collections Account.
    • It is also critical that ‘Ending Balance’ be correct for the other ‘Type of Account’ entries in the Account Provider node as this plays a role in the determination of whether a liquidity provider may use an asset backed security tranche as repo collateral with the Bank and, where this usage is permitted, in the calculation of the additional discount.
  • ‘Ending Amount Available’ in the Liquidity Provider node – this also plays a crucial role in the calculation of the margin add-on for liquidity providers and the determination of whether a liquidity provider may use the security as RBA repo collateral.

In addition, it is recommended that care be taken to complete the ‘Threshold Index’ and ‘Threshold Margin’ fields in the Pool Rollups node correctly: these fields should be populated if a threshold rate mechanism exists in an ABS structure; care should also be taken to enter the Threshold Margin in basis points. The Bank uses the presence of an index and/or a margin to that index to determine if a threshold rate mechanism exists, and the existence of such a mechanism is a requirement for the basis swap provider to any deal to be able to use the security as repo collateral (subject to an additional margin).

Based on data received to date, the Bank has observed a number of instances of implausibly low ending pool balances and implausibly high collections account ending balances and account and facility balances for liquidity reserves and facilities – giving rise to very high margin calculations. The Bank has also observed no data provided in the Threshold Index or Threshold Margin fields where a threshold rate mechanism is included in deal documentation. We recommend these fields be checked closely, even if a submission has been accepted by the Securitisation System. If a check of data submitted reveals an issue with any of these fields, please submit a revision to the latest submission as soon as possible. This will ensure margins and eligibility will be determined correctly.

June 2015

Mandatory Reporting Commences Today

Mandatory reporting of securitisation data is now in effect. Compliance with the reporting requirements is necessary for RMBS, CMBS and Other ABS to be considered eligible securities for repo by the Reserve Bank. Information Providers (IPs) are required to submit the relevant data for repo eligible asset-backed securities to the RBA on a monthly basis via the Securitisation System and certain data are also to be made publicly available. Please see Data to be Reported for the details and timing of the data reporting required each month. Please also note the recent RBA Securitisation Reporting Implementation Notice – 25 June 2015. IPs' first submissions will be due between 7 July 2015 and 5 August 2015.

Securitisation data are required to comply with the Consolidated Reporting Guidance. Checks for some aspects of this reporting guidance are automated in the Securitisation System (See Securitisation System Validations).

All IPs will continue to have access to the Securitisation System industry test environment by arrangement on an ongoing basis. The Securitisation Support Centre (contact details below) is available to assist you with testing and any other queries you may have.

Securitisation Support Centre
Email ssc@rba.gov.au
Phone 1800 919 211
You must also register your Deal Data and IP details via the web forms.

Important Reminder – Three Weeks until Mandatory Reporting Commences

From 30 June 2015, compliance with the new reporting requirements will be necessary for asset-backed securities to be considered eligible securities for repo by the Reserve Bank. Securitisation data are required to comply with the Consolidated Reporting Guidance. Checks for some aspects of this reporting guidance are automated in the Securitisation System (See Securitisation System Validations).

If you are required to submit data under the new repo eligibility requirements, there is now only three weeks left to ensure your data quality and submission processes are in order before the commencement of mandatory reporting on 30 June.

It is a requirement that IPs submit real submission data for each deal in the Industry Test Environment before commencing reporting on that deal to the Securitisation System. This is to assess the quality of your data before submission to the Securitisation System.

If you have not already done so, please contact the Securitisation Support Centre (contact details below) to make arrangements to commence testing. You must also register your Deal Data and IP details via the web forms. The Securitisation Support Centre is available to assist you with testing and any other queries you may have.

Securitisation Support Centre
Email ssc@rba.gov.au
Phone 1800 919 211

May 2015

Securitisation Reporting Tips – Latest Learnings

With less than 5 weeks until mandatory reporting commences, it is important that you identify any quality issues in your data and fix them as soon as possible. To assist in this, here is a list of common data quality problems encountered by IPs in testing to date:

  • incorrectly completed deal data registration forms – it is critical that the data submitted in these forms are correct. Experience to date shows that mistakes in these data (e.g. Master Trust, Series and Tranche names, ISIN etc.) are common and cause submitted data to be rejected by the Securitisation System. Please review your data provided in the deal data registration forms and advise the RBA immediately if correction is required via the Deal Data Registration and Amendment Form
  • incorrect/incomplete ABNs – it is very important to ensure the correct and complete ABN is reported for the entities playing the various roles in a deal. If the relevant institution does not have an ABN – either because it is domiciled in a non-Australian jurisdiction, or because it is an Australian entity with an ACN but no ABN – the ABN field should be completed with ‘ND5’ (Data Not Applicable), and the Jurisdiction, ID and ID Descriptor fields should be completed with the relevant information instead. See the Consolidated Reporting Guidance for further details.
  • varying from specified list of reporting options – where a specified list of possible values to report is provided in the Consolidated Reporting Guidance, it is very important that the field is completed with an exact match to the list of options. Any variation from the specified options (even one word or letter) cannot be processed by the RBA's systems. Where list items have numbered options associated with them either the number or the exact text field with no additional characters may be entered as an acceptable response. Where there are no numbers in the list only the exact text should be entered.

Important Reminder – Six Weeks until Mandatory Reporting Commences

From 30 June 2015, compliance with the new reporting requirements will be necessary for asset-backed securities to be considered eligible securities for repo by the Reserve Bank.

Many Information Providers (IPs) are actively engaged in testing in the Reserve Bank's Industry Test Environment, and some have already commenced voluntary reporting to the Securitisation System.

If you are required to submit data under the new repo eligibility requirements, there is now only six weeks left to ensure your data quality and submission processes are in order before the commencement of mandatory reporting on 30 June.

If you have not already done so, please contact the Securitisation Support Centre (contact details below) to make arrangements to commence testing. You must also register your Deal Data and IP details via the web forms. The Securitisation Support Centre is available to assist you with testing and any other queries you may have.

Securitisation Support Centre
Email ssc@rba.gov.au
Phone 1800 919 211

It is a requirement that IPs submit real submission data for each deal in the Industry Test Environment before commencing reporting on that deal to the Securitisation System. This is to assess the quality of your data before submission to the Securitisation System.

Industry testing experience to date has showed it is an iterative process for IPs to achieve a successful submission of the required data quality to the Securitisation System. It is critical that you allow as much testing time as possible so that this learning process occurs prior to the mandatory reporting period. Common data quality issues encountered by IPs in testing to date include:

  • incorrect/incomplete ABNs – it is very important to ensure the correct and complete ABN is reported for the entities playing the various roles in a deal
  • varying from specified list of reporting options – where a specified list of possible values to report is provided in the Consolidated Reporting Guidance, it is very important that the field is completed with an exact match to the list of options. Any variation from the specified options (even one word or letter) cannot be processed by the RBA's systems.

Securitisation data are required to comply with the Consolidated Reporting Guidance. Checks for some aspects of this reporting guidance are automated in the Securitisation System (See Securitisation System Validations). In addition, if RBA analysis at any point uncovers data quality issues in relation to other aspects of the reporting guidance, Information Providers (IPs) may be required to resubmit data in order to comply with the reporting requirements. Please also note that the automated data validations will be adjusted over time, depending on the experience with the reported data.

Please be aware that from 30 June 2015, decisions around repo-eligibility of a security will be made by the Reserve Bank taking into account all relevant information, including whether data have been successfully submitted to the Securitisation System for the deal.

March 2015

Information Provider Quick Reference Card – Preparing the First Submission

The purpose of this document is to help Information Providers (IPs) understand how to produce their first XML submission data file. In the one-page document, IPs are able to access a step-by-step guide with an illustrative submission process using the published Example Tools and Templates. Please note that the document is a guide only and the Example Tools and Templates are not an RBA recommended or supported solution.

For further information, refer to Support Material.

RMBS, CMBS and OABS Submission Templates & Cashflow Waterfall XML Generation Tool

A disclaimer note has been included in the RMBS, CMBS and OABS Submission Template & Cashflow Waterfall XML Generation Tool to remind IPs that the purpose of the Templates and Tool is to provide guidance on how to create submission XML files using Excel. It is a point in time aid in your solution development and set up. These templates and tool will not be maintained by the RBA on an ongoing basis beyond the 30th June 2015 commencement of mandatory reporting.

For further information, refer to Support Material.

February 2015

Securitisation System Validations

Securitisation data are required to comply with the RMBS, CMBS and Other ABS XML Schemas (refer to Support Material) and the Consolidated Reporting Guidance for RMBS, CMBS and Other ABS (refer to Data to be Reported). The Securitisation System applies validation checks to securitisation data at the time of submission in order to ensure data quality. For further details about the validations automated in the Securitisation System, please see the Securitisation System Validations Information and the Securitisation System Validations Guidance.

For further information, refer to Support Material.

Consolidated Reporting Guidance and No Data (ND) codes

The Consolidated Reporting Guidance for RMBS, CMBS and other ABS now include the ND codes that are currently accepted by the Securitisation System for each data field.

For further information, refer to Data to be Reported.

January 2015

Technical Delivery Forum Update – 29 January 2015

The fourth Forum was held Thursday, 29 January at the RBA Head Office in Sydney at 3.30 pm. As outlined in the Forum, Information Providers are required to send an email to ssc@rba.gov.au by Friday, 6 February 2015 advising of when they intend to participate in Industry Testing. This is required for planning purposes to ensure adequate support is provided to you for your initial submission.

2014

December 2014

Voluntary Data Submissions and Testing

The Securitisation System will accept voluntary data submissions from 31 December 2014. All Information Providers (IPs) intending to submit are required to test lodgement of their securitisation data with the RBA in the testing environment prior to a formal submission to the Securitisation System.

Access to the industry testing environment for RMBS, CMBS and other ABS reporting opened to IPs in November 2014 and will remain open by arrangement. To participate in testing or voluntary reporting, or for any related queries, please contact the Securitisation Support Centre at ssc@rba.gov.au or by phone on 1800 919 211.

Contact securitisations@rba.gov.au, for any other queries in relation to consolidated guidance and technical items.

The RBA will continue to host regular Technical Delivery Forums with the next forum to be scheduled in early 2015. Details are forthcoming.

Securitisation System B2B API Technical Implementation

The Securitisation System B2B API Technical Implementation Notes are now available. This document describes how an Information Provider (IP) user can use the B2B API web services to programmatically upload submission files to the Securitisation System.

For further information, refer to Support Material.

Technical Support Notes

The Securitisation System Technical Support Notes has been updated to version 1.5 to provide further clarity.

For further information, refer to Support Material.

Forms

The Deal Data Registration and Amendment, IP Registration and Amendment and IP User Registration and Amendment Forms are now available online. Complete the form(s), relevant to your organisation, if you intend on submitting data as part of the new reporting requirements for repo-eligibility, and/or registering as an Information Provider.

For further information, refer to Forms.

October 2014

XML Schema (XSD) and Supporting Technical Tools

The Other ABS XSD has been updated to version 1.1. The Other ABS Excel Data Submission Template has also been updated to reflect the changes to the XSD. The Other ABS XSD has been updated with a new field ‘Name of Originator’ in the ‘Originator’ node and in the ‘Static Historical Cumulative Net Losses’ node. This is to link records between the 2 nodes and ensure referential integrity is enforced.

The RMBS Example Excel Data Submission File and the RMBS Example XML Output have been updated to version 1.3. This is to reflect that Reserved Special Characters (&, <, >, ‘, “) cannot be submitted in any fields. Where they are required, substitute as follows:

  1. & with ‘and’
  2. < with ‘less than’
  3. > with ‘greater than’

For ‘ and “, do not use or substitute and submit at all.

For further information, refer to Support Material.

Data Requirements for RMBS, CMBS and Other ABS

The consolidated RMBS, CMBS, and Other ABS Reporting Guidance have been updated to provide further clarity to the data requirements. Refer to the change log tab for details.

For further information, refer to Data to be Reported.

Cash Flow Waterfall XML Generation Tool

The Cash Flow Waterfall XML Generation Tool has been updated to version 1.2 to address a defect found during our system testing. The issue rectified in this release is related to Boolean fields' output values not adhering to lower case xml standards. There are no updates to the usage or support instructions relating to this tool.

For further information, refer to Support Material.

Data Requirements for CMBS and Other ABS

The detailed consolidated guidance for CMBS and Other ABS is now available. Among other things, the guidance highlights RBA and industry initiated changes to data requirements since May 2014, provides greater clarity on the data required and submission format, and maps field codes in the Excel templates to the XML schema.

No new data items will be added to the CMBS and Other ABS reporting requirements ahead of 30 June 2015. If there are any changes to data requirements after this date, industry will be given a minimum of six months lead time to implement any changes.

For further information, refer to RBA Securitisation Reporting Implementation Notice – 1 October 2014.

XML Schema (XSD) and Supporting Technical Tools

The XML Schema (version 1.0) for submission of CMBS and Other ABS data to the Securitisation System is now available. A tool to allow Information Providers to easily create the required XML submission format from Excel is also provided, along with guidance on how to use the XML Schema and tool. Subsequent versions of these items will be released as required during the Securitisation Project Testing Phase. Information Providers are requested to email any queries, defects or issues regarding the XML Schema and related items to securitisations@rba.gov.au.

The RMBS XSD has been updated to Version 1.2. The RMBS Excel Data Submission Template and Example Excel Data Submission File have also been updated to reflect the changes to the XSD. A summary of the RMBS XSD changes are as follows:

  1. Updating the XSD Schema namespace to https://www.rba.gov.au/securitisation/collections/RMBS-2014-09
  2. Increasing the size of the Debt_Serviceability_Metric field from ND4String100 to ND4String
  3. Removal of the following non required fields from the Loan Node: (Original Property Valuation Date, Original Approval Amount, Settlement Date Remaining Term, Settlement Date Seasoning, Reset Interest Margin, Reset Interest Rate, LMI, LMI Timely Payment Cover, Originator Jurisdiction, Originator ID Descriptor, Servicer Jurisdiction, Servicer ID Descriptor, Seller Jurisdiction, Seller ID Descriptor, LMI Provider Jurisdiction, LMI Provider ID Descriptor, External Credit Score Provider ABN, External Credit Score Provider Jurisdiction, External Credit Score Provider ID, External Credit Score Provider ID Descriptor)

For further information, refer to Support Material.

September 2014

RBA Securitisation Reporting Implementation Notice – 17 September 2014

Following the release of the Implementation Notice dated 31 July on the Reserve Bank's Securitisations Industry Forum website, the Australian Securitisation Forum and a number of institutions have made representations about RBA and industry initiated changes to data requirements and the timing of the project. This notice constitutes the RBA's response to this feedback.

For further information, refer to RBA Securitisation Reporting Implementation Notice – 17 September 2014

August 2014

RMBS XML Schema (XSD) and Supporting Technical Tools

The RMBS XML Schema (XSD) has been updated to Version 1.1. The RMBS Excel Data Submission Template, Example Excel Data Submission File and Technical Support Notes have also been updated to reflect the changes to the XSD. A summary of the RMBS XSD changes are as follows: 

  1. Removal of the Deal_Id and Tranche_Id fields as they are no longer required in the submission (the associated update to the Policy and Guidance templates, available on the Data to be Reported page, are in progress and will be released shortly)
  2. Added ND4String definition to cater for String(MAX) characters
  3. Increasing the size of the Eligible_Loan_Criteria field from ND4String100 to the new data type ND4String
  4. Increasing the size of the Data_Location from ND4String100 to ND4String250
  5. Removal of nillable="false" setting from the Current_Coupon_Rate and Name_of_Liquidity_Facility XML fields. Validation rules will enforce policy and guidance definitions regarding each of these XML fields.
  6. Added XML schema control to ensure 1 and only 1 Sponsor record is submitted
  7. Changed minOccurs setting to 0 for the Account_Provider, Signature_Authority, Trigger, LMI_Provider, Authority_Holder, Liquidity_Provider, Credit_Enhancement_Provider and Swap_or_Hedge_Provider XML definitions in the Deal node.  Validation rules will enforce policy and guidance definitions regarding each of these XML nodes and their data elements.

For further information, refer to Support Material.

Technical Delivery Forum Update – 21 August 2014

The third Forum was held Thursday, 21 August at the RBA Head Office in Sydney at 3.00 pm. Information Providers interested in participating in Industry Testing are required to submit primary and secondary contact details (name, role, email and phone number) via email to securitisations@rba.gov.au by Friday, 12 September 2014. Please include in the subject line of the email ‘Industry Testing Contacts’.

RBA Securitisation Reporting Implementation Notice – 15 August 2014

The Cash Flow Waterfall (CFW) template has been updated to reflect the guidance provided to the industry since the CFW template's publication in July 2013, simplify the CFW template, maintain consistency with the data reported in the other data templates for repo-eligible asset-backed securities (ABS), and facilitate the reporting of the cash flow waterfall model through XML.

For further information, refer to RBA Securitisation Reporting Implementation Notice – 15 August 2014.

Cash Flow Waterfall XML Generation Tool and Technical Support Notes

The Cash Flow Waterfall XML Generation Tool (version 1.0) is now available. The tool will allow Information Providers to produce the required XML submission format from a Cash Flow Waterfall Excel file (prepared according to the Cash Flow Waterfall template.) The Securitisation System Technical Support Notes have been updated to provide guidance on how to interpret and use the tool. Subsequent versions of these items will be released as required during the Securitisation Project Testing Phase. Information Providers are requested to email any queries, defects or issues regarding the Cash Flow Waterfall XML Generation Tool and related items to securitisations@rba.gov.au.

For further information, refer to Support Material.

July 2014

RBA Securitisation Reporting Implementation Notice – 31 July 2014

Following consultation with industry, the Bank is providing final guidance on the data to be reported to meet the enhanced reporting requirements for eligibility of residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS). The Bank is requesting more detailed data breakdowns of existing data fields, to allow for a more granular assessment of the margin that will be applied to the security in repos and pricing of RMBS.

For further information, refer to RBA Securitisation Reporting Implementation Notice – 31 July 2014.

RMBS Securitisation Submission XML Schema and Supporting Technical Information

The XML Schema (version 1.0) for submission of RMBS data to the Securitisation System is now available. A tool to allow Information Providers to easily create the required XML submission format from Excel is also provided, along with guidance on how to use the XML Schema and tool. Subsequent versions of these items will be released as required during the Securitisation Project Testing Phase. Information Providers are requested to email any queries, defects or issues regarding the XML Schema and related items to securitisations@rba.gov.au.

For further information, refer to Support Material.

Technical Delivery Forum Update – 25 July 2014

The second Forum was held Friday, 25 July at the RBA Head Office in Sydney at 2.00 pm.

Information Providers are requested to submit a response to the below questions via a single email to securitisations@rba.gov.au by end July 2014:

  1. Name of web browser (and version) your organisation utilises

Please include in the subject line of the email ‘Response to July Technical Delivery Forum ’

The summary of the Q&A session once finalised will be made available on the Securitisation Industry Forum website.

June 2014

Technical Delivery Forum Update – 17 June 2014

The first Forum was held Tuesday, 17 June at the RBA Head Office in Sydney at 3.00 pm.

Information Providers are requested to submit responses to the below questions via a single email to securitisations@rba.gov.au by 18th July 2014:

  1. Expected numbers of business users that will require a login to the production system
  2. Intent to use B2B Automated Submission service
  3. Interest in UAT testing participation

Please include in the subject line of the email ‘Response to June Tech Forum ’

The minutes of the Q&A session once finalised will be made available on the Securitisation Industry Forum website.

Technical Delivery Forum

As part of the Bank's ongoing commitment to support the industry in the implementation of the new repo-eligibility criteria for asset-backed securities, it will be hosting regular Technical Delivery Forums for all information providers. The Forums will be targeted at the IT Project Managers, Technical, Solution and Testing Leads responsible for ensuring an organisation's operational readiness for the new securitisation reporting requirements. The Bank will provide updates on the Securitisation System, which is being developed to collect, validate and store the reported data for use by the Bank for risk management and analysis purposes. The Forums will also provide the opportunity for information providers to ask technical questions about the Securitisation System.

The first Forum will be held at 3.00 pm on Tuesday, 17 June at the Bank's Head Office in Sydney. Please confirm attendance by emailing securitisations@rba.gov.au COB Friday 14 June 2014. Please specify attendee details (name, role and email) and whether they will be attending in person or by phone. Further details about this Forum will be forwarded to all attendees once confirmation of attendance is received.

May 2014

RBA Securitisation Implementation Notice – 12 May 2014

This Notice provides updated and more detailed information on how the RBA's new reporting requirements for repo-eligible asset-backed securities will be implemented. It supersedes all previous guidance from the RBA on the specific issues dealt with herein.

2013

December 2013

October 2013

July 2013

April 2013

2012

October 2012