Fitch Affirms Compartment CIF Assets 2001-1 Senior Units at 'AAA'

Business Wire, May 2, 2005

PARIS -- Fitch Ratings, the international rating agency, has affirmed Compartment CIF Assets 2001-1's senior units' (parts) rating at Long-term 'AAA'.

CIF Assets is a Fonds Commun de Creances (FCC, the French securitisation vehicle) with segregated compartments established in April 2001. It was cofounded by Caisse Centrale du Credit Immobilier de France (3CIF, rated 'A /F1' by Fitch), which acts, among other things, as custodian, and by Paris Titrisation, an affiliate of Societe Generale bank (rated 'AA-/F1 ' by Fitch), which acts as management company. CIF Assets is used as a recurring refinancing vehicle by 3CIF. In this transaction, the FCC issues units that are backed by residential mortgage loans advanced by the group's regional banks to French individuals.

CIF Assets acquires on a bi-annual basis new residential mortgage loans by issuing new fungible units with those already issued. This rating affirmation addresses the recent asset purchase by CIF Assets and is based on the legal and financial structure of CIF Assets as well as on available credit enhancement (7.90%) generated by subordination of units (6.73%) and a reserve fund (1.17%).

Until April 2001, the size of CIF Assets' portfolio grew with the periodic purchases to reach, as of today, approximately EUR8.07 billion. Following this purchase, CIF Assets acquired 10 additional pools from 10 of the group's regional banks, which have all assigned loans to the FCC in the past. The portfolio purchased totals around EUR1.83 billion and was refinanced with the issuance of new units, EUR1.73 billion of senior units and EUR103.4 million of subordinated units.

This brings the total outstanding issuances to EUR8.07 billion, of which approximately EUR7.5 billion are senior units rated 'AAA'. It should be noted that the senior units are refinanced through CIF Euromortgage, a societe de credit foncier wholly owned by 3CIF, which issues obligations foncieres (covered bonds) also rated 'AAA'.

A report detailing Fitch's approach in rating residential mortgage-backed transactions "A Guide to Cash Flow Analysis for RMBS in Europe" is available on the Fitch Ratings web site, www.fitchratings.com.