Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility

Abstract

In the fall of 2008, the securitization market, which was the major provider of credit for consumers and small businesses, came to a near halt. Investors in this market abandoned not only the residential mortgage-backed securities that triggered the financial crisis, but also consumer and business asset-backed securities (ABS), which had a long track record of strong performance, and commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS). Also, the unprecedented widening of spreads for these securities rendered new issuance uneconomical, and the shutdown of the securitization market threatened to exacerbate the downturn in the economy.The Federal Reserve (Fed) thus decided to introduce the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) to help stabilize funding markets for issuers in the securitization market. The TALF extended term loans, collateralized by the securities, to buyers of certain high-quality asset-backed securities. By reopening the ABS market, the Fed intended to ultimately support the provision of credit to consumers and small businesses. Preventing the shutdown of lending to consumers and small businesses was the goal. The Fed did not directly take on material credit risk in those loans, but encouraged private investors to do so by providing them with liquidity.In aggregate, the Fed issued 2,152 loans, totaling $71.1 billion. The volume of outstanding loans peaked in March 2010 at $48.2 billion. Loans secured by nonmortgage ABS totaled $59 billion and loans secured by legacy CMBS totaled $12 billion. There are no longer any loans outstanding under the TALF program.