OREANDA-NEWS. Fitch Ratings has affirmed the senior student loan notes issued by Darien Rowayton Bank (DRB) Prime Student Loan Trust 2015-B. A full list of rating actions follows at the end of this press release. Although loss coverage mutliples indicate a higher rating, the rating upgrade is constrained by the limited short performance history of the loan program, and the short operating history of the originator/servicer.

KEY RATING DRIVERS

Collateral Quality: The collateral consists of credit-tested private student loans originated under DRB's private student loan programs and underwritten to the respective guidelines. As the transaction closed in 2015, the original default rate of 3%-5% and recovery rate projection of 10% still applies, and is determined to be appropriate based on the latest data provided by the issuer.

Credit Enhancement: Credit enhancement (CE) for each class A notes is provided by overcollateralization (OC) and excess spread. As of the August distribution report, total parity for the class A-1, A-2 and A-3 notes is 113.56% each. Funds cannot be released from the trust unless the OC builds up to the greater of 11.94% of the adjusted pool balance for each note or $2,361,000, $4,629,000, and $599,000 for the class A-1, A-2, and A-3 note, respectively (2% of the initial adjusted pool balance for each note).

Liquidity Support: Liquidity support is provided by reserve accounts of $209,655 for class A-1, $402,783 for class A-2 and $46,889 for class A-3. The specified reserve requirement is the greater of 0.15% of the initial note balance and 0.25% of the outstanding note balance.

Servicing Capabilities: Darien Rowayton Bank is the servicer for all the loans in the 2015-B trust, and First Associates, LLC is the backup servicer. Fitch considers both servicers to be acceptable private student loan servicers.

Under the Counterparty Criteria for Structured Finance and Covered Bonds, dated July 18, 2016, Fitch looks to its own ratings in analyzing counterparty risk and assessing a counterparty's creditworthiness. The definition of the permitted investment for this deal allows possibility of using investments that do not meet Fitch's criteria, this represents a criteria variation. Fitch doesn't believes such variation have a measurable impact upon the ratings assigned.

RATING SENSITIVITIES

Since the FFELP student loan ABS relies on the U. S. government to reimburse defaults, 'AAAsf' FFELP ABS ratings will likely move in tandem with the 'AAA' U. S. sovereign rating. Aside from the U. S. sovereign rating, defaults, basis risk, and loan extension risk account for the majority of the risk embedded in FFELP student loan transactions. Additional defaults, basis shock beyond Fitch's published stresses, lower than expected payment speed, and other factors could result in future downgrades. Likewise, a buildup of CE driven by positive excess spread given favorable basis factor conditions could lead to future upgrades.

USE OF THIRD-PARTY DUE DILIGENCE PURSUANT TO SEC RULE 17G-10

No third-party due diligence was provided or reviewed in relation to this rating action.

Fitch has affirmed the following ratings:

DRB Prime Student Loan Trust 2015-B

--Class A-1 at 'BBB'; Outlook Stable;

--Class A-2 at 'BBB+'; Outlook Stable;

--Class A-3 at 'BBB+'; Outlook Stable.