Conversations in European Credit

In this episode, KBRA’s European Macro Strategist Gordon Kerr concludes Conversations in European Credit and highlights the launch of his new KBRA podcast, Credit Compass: Navigating European Credit Markets. The new podcast will serve as a guide for navigating the complexities of European credit and capital markets from a broader macro perspective. It will offer valuable insights and analysis to h...

In this episode of Conversations in European Credit, KBRA Head of European Research, Gordon Kerr, speaks with Killian Walsh and Karl Cummins from KBRA’s ABS ratings team about the introduction of a new collateral type to European securitisation markets: solar photovoltaic loans. Their conversation covers a discussion about the KBRA-rated transaction—Enpal’s Golden Ray—and the potential future deve...

In this episode of Conversations in European Credit, KBRA Head of European Research, Gordon Kerr, speaks with Killian Walsh from KBRA’s ABS ratings team. Their discussion highlights the active use of an important bank capital tool: synthetic risk transfer transactions. These products have developed as an active market in Europe but are also a growing tool in the US. The content for the conversatio...

In this episode of Conversations in European Credit, KBRA Head of European Research, Gordon Kerr, speaks with Kali Sirugudi from KBRA’s RMBS ratings team. Their discussion highlights the growing specialist lender market in the UK and the use of securitisation markets for funding. Can the market continue to grow? Kali and Gordon outline the various niches that these lenders have stepped into and th...

In this episode of Conversations in European Credit, KBRA Head of European Research, Gordon Kerr, speaks with Asia Drobnik from KBRA’s financial institutions ratings team. The discussion outlines the current health of the European banking system as banks prepare for the final implementation of Basel IV regulations. The conversation draws on a recently published research on kbra.com.

In this episode, KBRA’s Head of European Research, Gordon Kerr, speaks with colleague Paul De Lange, from the Investor Relations team. The conversation focuses on the strong levels of issuance in the European securitisation market during first-half (1H) 2024, with volumes reaching their highest levels since 1H 2007. To help put the strong performance into perspective, Gordon and Paul cite a recent...

In this episode, Gordon Kerr, Head of European Research, speaks with Karim Nassif from KBRA’s project finance and corporate ratings team. The discussion outlines the proposed development of offshore wind in Ireland, which has outlined ambitious plans to deliver 20GW by 2040. The content for the conversation is based on a recently published research report that can be found on kbra.com.  

In this episode, Gordon Kerr, KBRA Head of European Research, speaks with Gabriele Gramazio from KBRA’s Structured Credit ratings team. Gabriele and Gordon discuss the large exposures held within European CLOs and the idiosyncratic risks associated with leveraged loans across the market. The conversation focuses on the content from a recently published research report that can be found on  kbra.co...

In this episode, Gordon Kerr, Head of European Research, engages in an interesting conversation moderated by Luigi Griffo from KBRA’s European Investor Relations team. Gordon comments on the recently published results from KBRA’s fifth European Securitisation Survey. The conversation focuses on aggregated investor responses and the resulting views for the direction of the market in the second half...

In this special episode of Conversations in European Credit dedicated to macro themes, Ken Egan from KBRA’s Sovereign Ratings team connects with KBRA Head of European Research, Gordon Kerr, to discuss the European labour market—where expectations have changed, where they are going, and their implications. KBRA’s continued mission to help illuminate the many trends taking shape across the markets a...

In this episode of Conversations in European Credit, Asia Drobnik from KBRA’s Financial Institutions ratings team, Ken Egan from KBRA’s Sovereign ratings team, and Kali Sirugudi from KBRA’s Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities ratings team sit down with KBRA Head of European Research Gordon Kerr to discuss the UK building societies. Asia, Ken, and Kali highlight the challenges within the UK econ...

In this episode of Conversations in European Credit, Karl Cummins and Killian Walsh from KBRA’s Asset-Backed Securities ratings team sit down with KBRA Head of European Research, Gordon Kerr, to discuss the launch of KBRA’s European Auto ABS performance indices. Killian, Karl, and Gordon outline the creation of these indices and the coverage they offer. The new European indices complement our coll...

In this episode of Conversations in European Credit, Kali Sirugudi from KBRA’s Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities ratings team sits down with KBRA Head of European Research, Gordon Kerr, to examine the housing and mortgage market in Ireland. Kali and Gordon discuss how this market faces challenges ahead despite making significant progression over the past 10 years after enduring the consequenc...

In this episode of Conversations in European Credit, Gabriele Gramazio from KBRA’s Structured Credit ratings team sits down with KBRA Head of European Research, Gordon Kerr, to discuss the increasing number of CLOs reaching the end of their reinvestment periods. Since these securities have begun to amortise, Gabriele and Gordon examine how the rate they pay down is influenced by a number of factor...

In this special episode of Conversations in European Credit dedicated to macro themes, Ken Egan from KBRA’s Sovereign Ratings connects with KBRA Head of European Research, Gordon Kerr, to discuss interest rates—where expectations have changed, where they are going, and their implications. KBRA's continued mission to help illuminate the many trends taking shape across the markets are highlighted in...

In this episode, Ken Egan from KBRA’s Sovereign Ratings team and Karim Nassif from KBRA’s European Corporates team engage with Gordon to discuss the influence of geopolitics on energy markets. Gordon, Ken, and Karim outline the impact of geopolitical tensions on energy and shipping, as well as the potential effect on European corporates. Further details may be found on  kbra.com .

In this episode, KBRA’s Co-Head of Europe, Yee Cent Wong, joins Gordon Kerr in a discussion about commercial real estate (CRE) exposures in covered bond collateral pools. The podcast outlines the characteristics of European cover pools that contain CRE lending and the challenges they face.

In this episode, Gabriele Gramazio, KBRA Structured Credit analyst, engages with Gordon on the rapid expansion of private credit, direct lending and middle market loans and how this has raised the prospect for their participation in the capital markets. Gordon and Gabriele outline some of the reasons for this as well as how they could potentially be structured.

In this episode, the second of two episodes on the topic, Gordon Kerr, Head of European Research engages in a conversation with several of KBRA’s European analysts on the Outlook for European securitisation in 2024. Gordon is joined by Killian Walsh from KBRA’s European ABS ratings team, Karl Cummins, also from KBRA’s European ABS ratings team, and Gabriele Gramazio from the European structured cr...

In this episode, the first of two episodes on the topic, Gordon Kerr, Head of European Research engages in a conversation with several of KBRA’s European analysts on the Outlook for European securitisation in 2024. Gordon is joined by Ken Egan from the European Sovereigns team at KBRA, Kali Sirugudi from the European RMBS ratings team, and Caitlin Parrella from the European CMBS ratings team. The...

In this episode, Gordon Kerr, Head of European Research, engages in an interesting conversation with himself. Moderated by Luigi Griffo from KBRA’s European Investor Relations team, Gordon comments on the recently published survey results from KBRA’s fourth European Securitisation survey. The conversation focuses on aggregated investor responses and the resulting views for the direction of the mar...

In this episode, Gordon Kerr, Head of European Research at KBRA, engages in a topical conversation with Fabio Di Giansante, Head of Large Cap European Equities at Amundi, and Karim Nassif from KBRA’s European Corporates team. The three discuss the European corporate sector, the impact cost inflation and rate hikes have had on performance, and how this environment will likely evolve in 2024. Amundi...

In this episode, Head of European Research Gordon Kerr discusses the growth in alternative fuel passenger vehicles and secondhand values with members of the European ABS ratings team. Gordon engages in a conversation with Karl Cummins and Christopher Noonan about the current state of used vehicle values in the UK and European Union. A recent KBRA research report outlines the challenging market for...

In this episode, Gordon Kerr, Head of European Research discusses the resilient profiles of KBRA rated asset managers, with members of the KBRA Financial Institutions ratings team; Asia Drobnik, Claudia McPherson, Leah Hallfors, and Patricia Cantwell. Gordon engages in a conversation with the team about the private equity and private credit firms under KBRA’s rating coverage and their ability to w...

In this episode, Gordon Kerr, Head of European Research discusses the current situation in the European employment market with Ken Egan from the KBRA sovereign ratings team. Gordon engages in a conversation with Ken about the current employment market in Europe and the challenges that the current tight labour market situation presents to economies and markets. KBRA’s report on the topic in greater...