Securitisation of stressed loans: Opportunities and structures

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Comments on RBI’s Discussion Paper on Securitisation of Stressed Assets Framework (SSAF) dated January 25, 2023

Timothy Lopes, Manager | Vinod Kothari Consultants Pvt. Ltd.

finserv@vinodkothari.com

Background

At present, in India, there exists a framework for securitisation of standard assets only. in September, 2021 the RBI issued the ‘Master Direction – Reserve Bank of India (Securitisation of Standard Assets) Directions, 2021’ (‘SSA Directions’)[1], which deals with standard asset securitisation. Under the SSA Directions, the definition of standard assets does not include non-performing loans, i.e., only those assets with a delinquency up to 89 days, would qualify for securitisation under the SSA directions.

For assets that turn non-performing, i.e., 89+ days-past-due (‘DPD’), including those that retain the classification as the borrower has not been able to clear all his past arrears, the  same can, at present, be sold under the Master Direction – Reserve Bank of India (Transfer of Loan Exposures) Directions, 2021 (‘TLE Directions’)[2], which has a framework for sale of stressed assets (which includes non-performing assets).  Technically, there is a process of “securitisation” of non-performing loans (‘NPLs’), by issuing “security receipts” (‘SRs’) against the same; however, the framework for issue and investing in SRs is quite different, and is normally not captured as a part of securitisation in the industry parlance[3].

Assets sold through the TLE route require a complete arm’s length sale, without any credit support from the seller and there is typically no tranching. This results in substantial haircuts on these stressed loan pools. Further, most of the NPLs that face a problem in the current scenario are retail loans or re-performing loans (see discussion on re-performing loans later). These retail pools are not normally sold under the ARC route since ARCs lack the capability in this specific asset class and are more suited towards wholesale transactions.

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External Commercial Borrowings

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– Vinita Nair, Senior Partner | corplaw@vinodkothari.com

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Tweezing out for dormancy: RBI intends to intensify regulatory audits of NBFCs

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  • By CS Anita Baid, Vice President, Vinod Kothari Consultants P. Ltd.

As per reports available on public domain[1], the RBI intends to intensify regulatory audits of non-banking finance companies, to find dormancy, non-compliance, non clarity of business models, or other risks that the regulator may wish to check. The intent seems to be weed out the truant ones out of the crowd of over 9000 NBFCs that exist. It is a fact that in the recent years, the RBI has been granting lesser new registrations, and canceling more of existing registrations, causing the number to come down. It is also important to note that if the number of NBFCs looks overwhelming, it is not because so many companies are into real operation: it is because the regulations currently define a company investing its owned capital into financial investments, with absolutely no access to either public funds or customer interface, as an NBFC, by imputing the public interest that actually does not exist. The number would have been a lot lesser had the regulator had the realisation that if there are no public funds, no customer interface and investment of owned funds being done, there is no reason for the regulator to interfere, as the intent of the country’s Central Bank cannot be to regulate investment activity that one does with one’s own money.

While this issue remains to be advocated for a potential reform, in the meantime, it is important for NBFCs to brace up for the RBI’s inquisitorial interest.

This article is intended to help NBFCs to be better prepared for such regulatory interface.

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Highlights of MCA Discussion Paper on changes considered to IBC

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– Vinod Kothari & Sikha Bansal | resolution@vinodkothari.com

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MCA rationalizes 52 ROC e-Forms for V3 portal

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– Prapti Kanakia, Manager | prapti@vinodkothari.com

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  1. Directors to declare on personal disqualifications too in DIR-8

NCLT’s powers to rectify register of members restricted in case of breach of securities laws

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– Sharon Pinto, Manager | sharon@vinodkothari.com

Introduction

A recent judgment by the Supreme Court in Ifb Agro Industries Limited vs Sicgil India Limited, has put to rest the concerns regarding rectificatory jurisdiction of NCLT u/s 59 of Companies Act, 2013 (section 111A of the erstwhile Companies Act, 1956). The ruling has shed light on the scope of NCLT jurisdiction in case of rectification of the register of members, in cases where there are violations of specific laws and the facts of the case are such that the same requires proper enquiry, adjudication under the specific statute. The two major questions addressed by Hon’ble Supreme Court are as follows:

  • What is the scope and ambit of Section 111A of the Companies Act, 1956 (‘Act, 1956’) / Section 59 of the Companies Act, 2013 (‘Act, 2013’), to rectify the register of members?
  • Which is the appropriate forum for adjudication and determination of violations and consequent actions under the SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeover) Regulations 1997 (‘SEBI SAST Regulations’) and the SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations 1992 (‘SEBI PIT Regulations’)?
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Directors to declare on personal disqualifications too in DIR-8

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– Prapti Kanakia, Manager | prapti@vinodkothari.com

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Stewardship Responsibilities of Institutional Investors in India: Global perspectives and the Way Ahead

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– Sikha Bansal, Partner & Neha Malu, Senior Executive | corplaw@vinodkothari.com

“Stewardship” literally means the act of protecting the rights of the person to whom it is acting as a steward. In the context of shareholders’ governance and capital markets, the institutional investors play the stewardship role for their clients/ beneficiaries as the funds invested by the institutional investors in the companies actually belong to the large pool of diversified investors who had invested in the institutional investors and hence it will not be wrong to say that the institutional investors are the “stewards” and not the “owners” of the funds invested by them.  As defined by UK Stewardship Code (2020)[1], “Stewardship is the responsible allocation, management and oversight of capital to create long-term value for clients and beneficiaries leading to sustainable benefits for the economy, the environment and society”.

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As social stock exchanges seem imminent, auditors get ready with social audit standards

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ICAI and ICSI issue social audit standards

– Sharon Pinto & Kaushal Shah (corplaw@vinodkothari.com)

Background

As we understand, the concept of Social Stock Exchanges (‘SSEs’) have been brought under the regulatory purview of Securities and Exchange Board of India (‘SEBI’) for listing and raising of capital by Social Enterprises, the details of which can be read in our article Social stock exchanges: philanthropy on the bourses as well as our other resources linked with the concept of SSEs and social sectors.

Social Enterprises are defined under regulation 292A (h) of the SEBI (ICDR) Regulations, 2018 (‘ICDR Regulations’) and are expected to be engaged in the specified activities provided therein. With the objective to assess the impact created by such social activities by the Social Enterprises, Self Regulatory Organisations (‘SRO’s) recognised under ICAI, ICSI and such other bodies as may be prescribed by SEBI have been considered to be eligible to act as platforms to register Social Auditors. ICAI has approved the formation of an SRO named ‘Institute of Social Auditors of India’ while ‘ICSI Institute of Social Auditors’ is the recognsied SRO under ICSI. Such auditors are also required to undergo a certification program conducted by National Institute of Securities Market (‘NISM’).

ICAI has recently sought interest for the initial empanelment of Social Auditors.[1] The eligibility criteria for empanelment as a Social Audit firm requires having a track record of minimum three years of conducting social impact assessment. Further, average annual grants or expenditure of social enterprise of the last 3 financial years should be atleast Rs. 50 lakhs and the firm should have suitable human resources in the field of social development having experience of usage of relevant methodology of social audit. The disqualifications includes any individual or any of the partner/director of an entity being convicted for an offence of moral turpitude or declared as an undischarged insolvent/bankrupt or has been debarred by SEBI.  

To put it in simple terms, Social Auditors are required to conduct Social Audit of the activities carried on by Social Enterprises. To aid the Social Auditors in carrying out the Social Audit, both the SROs being ICAI and ICSI have rolled out the Social Audit Standards (‘SAS’) to assist and guide their empanelled auditors for the purpose of carrying out the audit in accordance with the SAS Framework. Looking at the imminence of SSEs to come into reality with SEBI granting in-principle approval to both BSE and NSE in December, 2022, SROs have rolled out SAS for the quick reference and guidance for their registered auditors.

In this write-up, we have covered the key takeaways from the SAS and its relevance, applicability as well as mapping with the global principles on social audit.

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