S&P Rates Panama Cross-border RMBS

Standard & Poor’s Ratings has assigned a triple A rating to La Hipotecaria Panamanian Mortgage Trust’s $73.05 million certificates series 2007-1, due December 2036, the first cross-border RMBS to be rated by S&P in Panama. This is also the first Panamanian transaction rated by S&P in which the assigned rating is higher than the sovereign ratings (local and foreign currency) of the country where the underlying mortgages were originated, said the agency. The transaction securitized a pool of Panamanian residential U.S. dollar-denominated floating-rate mortgages originated by mortgage company La Hipotecaria. This is the eighth securitization for the company but the first issued with a full wrap and placed in the international markets.