Pepper Awarded Standard & Poor’s ‘ABOVE AVERAGE’ Ranking for its Residential Servicing and ‘AVERAGE’ with a Positive Outlook for its Commercial Servicing

Posted 23-10-2014


Dublin 23 October, 2014 – Pepper Asset Servicing (“Pepper Ireland”) has [today] officially been assigned Standard & Poor’s ‘ABOVE AVERAGE’ ranking for its residential primary and special servicing. The company has also received an ‘AVERAGE’ ranking for its commercial primary and special servicing.

This is the first time Pepper Ireland has undergone an independent assessment by a ratings services agency since the business was established here in September 2012, following in the footsteps of Pepper Australia which has a ‘STRONG’ ranking.

Commenting on the rankings Paul Doddrell, CEO Pepper Ireland, said, “We’re delighted to have received these ratings from Standard & Poor’s and in particular the second highest ranking for our residential servicing. This independent assessment is a great acknowledgement of our progress as an organisation since establishing in Ireland two years ago. It’s with credit to our employees that we have been able to achieve this key objective for the business.”

The Standard & Poor’s outlook on rankings for primary and special servicing of residential mortgages is stable and the outlook on rankings for primary and special servicing of commercial mortgages is positive. The ratings agency also assigned an ‘ABOVE AVERAGE’ to the management and organisation.

According to Standard & Poor’s, “In our view, Pepper Asset Servicing has been able to use its established servicing operations in Australia to develop its servicing operations in Ireland, creating a robust and controlled environment. The positive outlook for commercial special servicing reflects our expectation that we could raise this ranking at the time of our next review once we have greater oversight on collections and loan/asset resolutions currently constrained because many have been serviced by Pepper Asset Servicing for less than 12 months.”

Pepper Asset Servicing was established in September 2012 when Pepper Group entered the Irish market as part of its ambition is to grow the business and establish the company as a best-in-class, pan-European loan servicer and real estate asset manager. The company currently employs over 240 people in Shannon and Dublin, with plans to expand this number to 270 by March 2015. Pepper currently has over €10 billion of assets under management.

The company is a leading servicer of third-party loan portfolios, asset management and advisory services spanning a range of asset classes including residential mortgages, commercial mortgages, auto finance, unsecured loans and equipment finance. Pepper prides itself in taking an innovative and solutions-based approach to arrears management and working with people experiencing financial difficulties.

Pepper in Ireland is part of the Pepper Group, a global financial services business, specialising in Lending, Advisory and Asset Management Services. Pepper is ranked by S&P as a “STRONG” Residential Loan Servicer and is included on S&P’s Global Select Servicer List.

For further information please contact:

Ben Valdimarsson
ReputationInc
Tel: +353 (0)1 412 0500
Mob: +353 (0)86 173 5123

Sinead Moore
ReputationInc
Tel: +353 (0)1 412 0500
Mob: +353 86 375 1004