Wells Fargo Commercial Mortgage Trust 2020-C57 -- Moody's assigns provisional ratings to 18 CMBS classes of Wells Fargo Commercial Mortgage Trust 2020-C57

Rating Action: Moody's assigns provisional ratings to 18 CMBS classes of Wells Fargo Commercial Mortgage Trust 2020-C57

Global Credit Research - 12 Aug 2020

Approximately $418.3 million of structured securities affected

New York, August 12, 2020 -- Moody's Investors Service has assigned provisional ratings to 18 classes of CMBS securities, issued by Wells Fargo Commercial Mortgage Trust 2020-C57, Commercial Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates, Series 2020-C57:

Cl. A-1, Assigned (P)Aaa (sf)

Cl. A-SB, Assigned (P)Aaa (sf)

Cl. A-3, Assigned (P)Aaa (sf)

Cl. A-4, Assigned (P)Aaa (sf)

Cl. X-A*, Assigned (P)Aaa (sf)

Cl. A-S, Assigned (P)Aa2 (sf)

Cl. A-3-1**, Assigned (P)Aaa (sf)

Cl. A-3-X1****, Assigned (P)Aaa (sf)

Cl. A-3-2**, Assigned (P)Aaa (sf)

Cl. A-3-X2****, Assigned (P)Aaa (sf)

Cl. A-4-1**, Assigned (P)Aaa (sf)

Cl. A-4-X1****, Assigned (P)Aaa (sf)

Cl. A-4-2**, Assigned (P)Aaa (sf)

Cl. A-4-X2****, Assigned (P)Aaa (sf)

Cl. A-S-1**, Assigned (P)Aa2 (sf)

Cl. A-S-X1****, Assigned (P)Aa2 (sf)

Cl. A-S-2**, Assigned (P)Aa2 (sf)

Cl. A-S-X2****, Assigned (P)Aa2 (sf)

* Reflects interest-only classes

** Reflects exchangeable classes

**** Reflects interest-only and exchangeable classes

RATINGS RATIONALE

The Certificates are collateralized by 40 fixed rate loans secured by 71 properties. The ratings are based on the collateral and the structure of the transaction.

Moody's approach to rating CMBS deals combines both commercial real estate and structured finance analysis. Based on commercial real estate analysis, Moody's determines the credit quality of each mortgage loan and calculates an expected loss on a loan specific basis. Under structured finance, the credit enhancement for each certificate typically depends on the expected frequency, severity, and timing of future losses. Moody's also considers a range of qualitative issues as well as the transaction's structural and legal aspects. The credit risk of loans is determined primarily by two factors: 1) Moody's assessment of the probability of default, which is largely driven by each loan's DSCR, and 2) Moody's assessment of the severity of loss upon a default, which is largely driven by each loan's LTV ratio.

The Moody's Actual DSCR of 1.54x is lower than the 2019 conduit transaction average of 1.70x. The Moody's Stressed DSCR of 0.87x is also lower than the 2019 conduit transaction average of 0.99x.

The pooled trust loan balance of $560,539,656 represents a Moody's LTV ratio of 125.3%, which is worse than the 2019 conduit/fusion transaction average of 115.4%.There is one loan in the pool structured with additional debt in the form of subordinate debt. With the additional debt, the Moody's total debt LTV ratio rises to 127.8%. Moody's also considers both loan level diversity and property level diversity when selecting a ratings approach. With respect to loan level diversity, the pool's loan level Herfindahl score is 22.3 which is well below the 2019 transaction average score of 32.8. With respect to property level diversity, the pool's property Herfindahl score of 33.9 is well below the 2019 transaction average score of 40.4.