Russia’s residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) market was able to weather the brunt of the recent economic downturn intact and establish a benchmark of performance for itself in the process, according to a recent report published by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services.

From a credit perspective, strong structural elements and consistent asset quality helped rated RMBS perform well through the downturn, and the transactions that remain outstanding continue to benefit from strong fundamentals, S&P said.

Russia’s residential mortgage industry is still in its infancy, and its RMBS market is even younger. The country saw its first transactions in 2006. S&P rated five cross-border RMBS transactions backed by loans from three originators between 2006 and 2008. Twelve domestic RMBS transactions were brought to market between 2006 and 2011.