Article 249

1. An institution may recognise funded or unfunded credit protection with respect to a securitisation position where the requirements for credit risk mitigation laid down in this Chapter and in Chapter 4 are met.

2. Eligible funded credit protection shall be limited to financial collateral which is eligible for the calculation of risk-weighted exposure amounts under Chapter 2 as laid down under Chapter 4 and recognition of credit risk mitigation shall be subject to compliance with the relevant requirements as laid down under Chapter 4.

Eligible unfunded credit protection and unfunded credit protection providers shall be limited to those which are eligible in accordance with Chapter 4 and recognition of credit risk mitigation shall be subject to compliance with the relevant requirements as laid down under Chapter 4.

3. By way of derogation from paragraph 2, the eligible providers of unfunded credit protection listed in points (a) to (h) of Article 201(1) shall have been assigned a credit assessment by a recognised ECAI which is credit quality step 2 or above at the time the credit protection was first recognised and credit quality step 3 or above thereafter. The requirement set out in this subparagraph shall not apply to qualifying central counterparties.

Institutions which are allowed to apply the IRB Approach to a direct exposure to the protection provider may assess eligibility in accordance with the first subparagraph based on the equivalence of the PD for the protection provider to the PD associated with the credit quality steps referred to in Article 136.

4. By way of derogation from paragraph 2, SSPEs shall be eligible protection providers where all of the following conditions are met:

(a) the SSPE owns assets that qualify as eligible financial collateral in accordance with Chapter 4;

(b) the assets referred to in point (a) are not subject to claims or contingent claims ranking ahead or pari passu with the claim or contingent claim of the institution receiving unfunded credit protection; and

(c) all the requirements for the recognition of financial collateral set out in Chapter 4 are met.

5. For the purposes of paragraph 4, the amount of the protection adjusted for any currency and maturity mismatches (Ga) in accordance with Chapter 4 shall be limited to the volatility adjusted market value of those assets and the risk weight of exposures to the protection provider as specified under the Standardised Approach (g) shall be determined as the weighted-average risk weight that would apply to those assets as financial collateral under the Standardised Approach.

6. Where a securitisation position benefits from full credit protection or a partial credit protection on a pro-rata basis, the following requirements shall apply:

(a) the institution providing credit protection shall calculate risk-weighted exposure amounts for the portion of the securitisation position benefiting from credit protection in accordance with Subsection 3 as if it held that portion of the position directly;

(b) the institution buying credit protection shall calculate risk-weighted exposure amounts in accordance with Chapter 4 for the protected portion.

7. In all cases not covered by paragraph 6, the following requirements shall apply:

(a) the institution providing credit protection shall treat the portion of the position benefiting from credit protection as a securitisation position and shall calculate risk-weighted exposure amounts as if it held that position directly in accordance with Subsection 3, subject to paragraphs 8, 9 and 10;

(b) the institution buying credit protection shall calculate risk-weighted exposure amounts for the protected portion of the position referred to in point (a) in accordance with Chapter 4. The institution shall treat the portion of the securitisation position not benefiting from credit protection as a separate securitisation position and shall calculate risk-weighted exposure amounts in accordance with Subsection 3, subject to paragraphs 8, 9 and 10.

8. Institutions using the Securitisation Internal Ratings Based Approach (SEC-IRBA) or the Securitisation Standardised Approach (SEC-SA) under Subsection 3 shall determine the attachment point (A) and detachment point (D) separately for each of the positions derived in accordance with paragraph 7 as if these had been issued as separate securitisation positions at the time of origination of the transaction. The value of KIRB or KSA, respectively, shall be calculated taking into account the original pool of exposures underlying the securitisation.

9. Institutions using the Securitisation External Ratings Based Approach (SEC-ERBA) under Subsection 3 for the original securitisation position shall calculate risk-weighted exposure amounts for the positions derived in accordance with paragraph 7 as follows:

(a) where the derived position has the higher seniority, it shall be assigned the risk weight of the original securitisation position;

(b) where the derived position has the lower seniority, it may be assigned an inferred rating in accordance with Article 263(7). In that case, thickness input T shall only be computed on the basis of the derived position. Where a rating may not be inferred, the institution shall apply the higher of the risk weight resulting from either:

(i) applying the SEC-SA in accordance with paragraph 8 and Subsection 3; or

(ii) the risk weight of the original securitisation position under the SEC-ERBA.

10. The derived position with the lower seniority shall be treated as a non-senior securitisation position even if the original securitisation position prior to protection qualifies as senior.