Moody’s upgraded 28 multi-cédulas on Friday, raising their ratings by up to four notches, following the assignment of new Counterparty Risk (CR) assessments for the issuers of the underlying Spanish covered bonds earlier last week.

The new CR assessments are assigned to issuers as part of a wider update to Moody’s bank rating methodology, and result in new covered bond anchors for the programmes that are higher than the previous ones.

Moody’s upgraded the multi-cédulas – from AyT Cédulas Cajas, Cédulas TDA, Intermoney and PITCH programmes, as well as Cédulas Grupo Banco Popular 3 – citing an improvement in the expected loss for the cédulas backing the series.

Cédulas Grupo Banco Popular 3 benefitted from the most notches of upgrade, being lifted by four notches, from A3 to Aa2.

Upgraded by three notches were AyT Cédulas Cajas V – Series B, AyT Cédulas Cajas Global – Series X, Programa Cédulas TDA – Series A5, and Programa Cédulas TDA – Series A6, all of which were raised from A3 to Aa3. Also receiving three notches of upgrade was AyT Cédulas Cajas VIII – Series B, which was lifted from Baa1 to A1.

The rating agency also confirmed the ratings of seven multi-cédulas from the AyT Cédulas Cajas, Cédulas TDA, Intermoney and PITCH programmes, where there is no change in the expected loss, although it added that three of these series have exposures to a participant whose private rating is on review.

The actions complete a review of the ratings that was initiated on 20 March, when Moody’s placed the ratings of 37 multi-cédulas on review for upgrade.

Moody’s said that four issuers participating in any of the 35 multi-cédulas have no CR assessment, with their credit quality being assessed either through private monitored ratings or credit estimates. Two of these issuers participate in only one series each with less than 6% exposure.

Another of the four issuers, whose anchor was assessed through a credit estimate, participates in 25 series with an average exposure of 14.8% and a maximum exposure of 30.8%.

The other, whose rating was assessed through a private monitored rating, participates in three series with an average exposure of 29.4% and a maximum exposure of 39.2%. This private rating is under review, Moody’s said, and given the size of the issuer’s participation the conclusion of the review may impact the rating of the related multi-cédulas.

The rating actions also take into account updated information on the underlying mortgage pools of participating issuers, Moody’s said.

On Thursday, Moody’s upgraded 20 Spanish covered bond programmes after assigning new CR assessments.