Recital 5

(5)Within the context of a qualitative analysis, in order to ensure an objective and consistent determination of the mapping, and with a view to ensuring a smooth transition for the market, it is necessary to rely on the mapping of credit assessments to credit quality steps that were issued in 2006 on the basis of Article 97 of Directive 2006/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council ³ . Those mappings applied to ECAIs issuing securitisation ratings at that time were not only based on a quantitative mapping methodology but also on historical evidence relating to the performance of credit ratings prior to the financial crisis. Those mappings had been designed to ensure overall objectiveness and consistency among the relative degrees of risks expressed by the different rating grades used to assign credit ratings by the ECAIs operating at that point in time in the securitisation market.