Firstmac has launched a securitisation deal, backed by Australian prime residential mortgages. The top-rated tranches of class A notes in the Firstmac Mortgage Funding Trust No. 4 Series 1A-2014 are rated AAAsf (exp) and at launch totalled A$250 million, along with a US$180 million short-term bullet note (class A-2A) that will be refinanced via the issuance of class A-2B short-term notes in either Australian or US dollars. The AB notes and three tranches of class B notes, totalling $50m, were not rated by Fitch. In a presale report, Fitch noted that lenders' mortgage insurance is present on 63 per cent of the collateral pool, which differs from prior Firstmac RMBS transactions where all loans had LMI cover. Moody's Investors Service said the performance of New Zealand's covered bond programs was "stable" during the first quarter of 2014, supported by the country's stable Aaa sovereign rating, the strong and stable financial profiles of the issuers and the credit quality of the underlying residential mortgages. The most notable change in the composition of the cover pools was the increase in fixed rate mortgage loans, by current balance, to an average of 69.3 per cent in Q1 2014, up from 63.2 per cent in Q4 2013. By contrast, in Q1 2013, only 54.9 per cent of mortgage loans by current balance were at fixed rates. New Zealand banks did not issue any covered bonds during Q1 2014, so total covered bond issuance remains at NZ$13.2 billion. Fitch Ratings will abandon coverage of a major financial services institution, because the rating yields no direct revenue. Fitch affirmed and then withdrew its IAA- ratings on Insurance Australia Group. The outlook was stable, Fitch said in a brief media release in which the ratings agency explained it  had "decided to discontinue the ratings, which are uncompensated."