OREANDA-NEWS. Fitch Ratings says in a new report that EMEA SME CLO performance has remained stable during September as the low arrears climate continued. Fitch SME Compare shows that the 90+ arrears index across all deals has remained below 1% since November 2014.

Spanish arrears have continued to decline and were 1.68% as of August, having been below 2% since the beginning of the year. Italian arrears exhibit more volatility but have been stable since July 2015.

The Fitch SME Compare tracks the performance of all SME CLO transactions monitored by Fitch based on their investor reports. The report is updated on a monthly basis.

On 22 September Fitch withdrew ratings on Caixa Penedes FTGENCAT 1 TDA FTA's B and C notes. The withdrawal follows a change in the transaction's counterparties, meaning that Fitch will no longer have sufficient information to maintain the ratings. Fitch also reviewed Locat SV S. r.l. on 9 September resulting in a "Review - No Action".

Fitch updated two pieces of criteria this month: on 1 September Fitch updated its Criteria for Servicing Continuity Risk, with no rating impact as the core principles of rating analysis remain the same.

On 26 September Fitch published Criteria for Country Risk in Global SF and Covered Bonds. The report merges the 'Criteria for Sovereign Risk in Developed Markets for Structured Finance and Covered Bonds' and 'Criteria for Rating Securitizations in Emerging Markets' while maintaining the core principles. The consolidation does not have any impact on ratings for existing transactions or programmes.