Public-Private Investment Program for Legacy Assets
Encyclopedia
On March 23, 2009, the United States Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
(FDIC), the Federal Reserve, and the United States Treasury Department announced the Public-Private Investment Program for Legacy Assets. The program is designed to provide liquidity for so-called "toxic assets" on the balance sheets of financial institutions. This program is one of the initiatives coming out of the implementation of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) as implemented by the U.S. Treasury under Secretary Timothy Geithner. The major stock market indexes in the United States rallied on the day of the announcement rising by over six percent with the shares of bank stocks leading the way. As of early June 2009, the program had not been implemented yet and is considered delayed. Yet, the Legacy Securities Program implemented by the Federal Reserve has begun by fall 2009 and the Legacy Loans Program is being tested by the FDIC. The proposed size of the program has been drastically reduced relative to its proposed size when it was rolled out.
's and MBS
's) backed by loan portfolios ("legacy securities"). These assets create uncertainty around the balance sheets of these financial institutions, compromising their ability to raise capital and their willingness to increase lending.
Earlier in the decade, in response to the economic downturn caused by the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Federal Reserve lowered its target interest rates which, along with securitized credit instruments (legacy assets), caused increased credit availability for real estate loans. This increase in the availability of credit pushed up housing prices, causing a bubble.
The problem came with the bursting of the housing bubble in 2007, which generated losses for investors and banks. Losses were compounded by the lax underwriting standards that had been used by some lenders and by the proliferation of the complex securitization instruments, some of whose risks were not fully understood. The resulting need by investors and banks to reduce risk triggered a wide-scale deleveraging in these markets and led to fire sales. As prices declined, many traditional investors exited these markets, causing declines in market liquidity. As a result, a negative cycle developed where declining asset prices have triggered further deleveraging, which has in turn led to further price declines. The excessive discounts embedded in some legacy asset prices are now straining the capital of U.S. financial institutions, limiting their ability to lend and increasing the cost of credit throughout the financial system. The lack of clarity about the value of these legacy assets also made it difficult for some financial institutions to raise new private capital on their own.
It is widely but not universally held that the true value of each asset can be determined by swift, scrupulous research using appropriate software; and that many banks' and financial firms' unwillingness to do this is caused by their refusal to acknowledge responsibility for dangerously sloppy past sales and purchase practices.
(TALF).
A broad array of investors are expected to participate in the Legacy Loans Program. The participation of individual investors, pension plans, insurance companies and other long-term investors is particularly encouraged. The Legacy Loans Program will facilitate the creation of individual Public-Private Investment Funds which will purchase asset pools on a discrete basis. The program will boost private demand for distressed assets that are currently held by banks and facilitate market-priced sales of troubled assets.
The FDIC will provide oversight for the formation, funding, and operation of these new funds that will purchase assets from banks. Treasury and private capital will provide equity financing and the FDIC will provide a guarantee for debt financing issued by the Public-Private Investment Funds to fund asset purchases. The Treasury will manage its investment on behalf of taxpayers to ensure the public interest is protected. The Treasury intends to provide 50 percent of the equity capital for each fund, but private managers will retain control of asset management subject to oversight from the FDIC.
Purchasing assets in the Legacy Loans Program will occur through the following process:
The goal of the Legacy Securities Program is to restart the market for legacy securities, allowing banks and other financial institutions to free up capital and stimulate the extension of new credit. The Treasury anticipates that the resulting process of price discovery will also reduce the uncertainty surrounding the financial institutions holding these securities, potentially enabling them to raise new private capital. The Legacy Securities Program consists of two related parts designed to draw private capital into these markets by providing debt financing from the Federal Reserve under the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) and through matching private capital raised for dedicated funds targeting legacy securities. The lending program will address the broken markets for securities tied to residential and commercial real estate and consumer credit. The intention is to incorporate this program into the previously announced TALF.
The Treasury Department will make co-investment/leverage available to partner with private capital providers to immediately support the market for legacy mortgage- and asset-backed securities originated prior to 2009 with a rating of AAA at origination. They will approve up to five asset managers with a demonstrated track record of purchasing legacy assets, however, they may consider adding more depending on the quality of applications received. Managers whose proposals have been approved will have a period of time to raise private capital to target the designated asset classes and will receive matching Treasury funds under the Public-Private Investment Program. Treasury funds will be invested one-for-one on a fully side-by-side basis with these investors.
Asset managers will have the ability, if their investment fund structures meet certain guidelines, to subscribe for senior debt for the Public-Private Investment Fund from the Treasury Department in the amount of 50% of total equity capital of the fund. The Treasury Department will consider requests for senior debt for the fund in the amount of 100% of its total equity capital subject to further restrictions.
has been very critical of this program arguing the non-recourse loans lead to a hidden subsidy that will be split by asset managers, banks' shareholders and creditors. Mr. Krugman argues that this will lead to wild overbidding for assets. Yet, research into the structure of the program shows that the overbidding incentives in non-recourse loans are subtle. If there are overbidding incentives, they depend on the amount of leverage, the interest rates and guarantee fees charged by the Federal Reserve or the FDIC, respectively, and the volatility of the toxic assets. Banking analyst Meridith Whitney argues that banks will not sell bad assets at fair market values because they are reluctant to take asset write downs. Removing toxic assets would also reduce the volatility of banks' stock prices. Because stock is a call option
on a firm's assets, this lost volatility
will hurt the stock price of distressed banks. Therefore, such banks will only sell toxic assets at above market prices. The program has been hampered by the announcement by Standard & Poor's
that many eligible assets would be downgraded by the rating agency, making them ineligible for the program. Federal Reserve of New York president William Dudley
stated on June 4 that "there's a huge administrative hurdle" to implementing the program.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is a United States government corporation created by the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933. It provides deposit insurance, which guarantees the safety of deposits in member banks, currently up to $250,000 per depositor per bank. , the FDIC insures deposits at...
(FDIC), the Federal Reserve, and the United States Treasury Department announced the Public-Private Investment Program for Legacy Assets. The program is designed to provide liquidity for so-called "toxic assets" on the balance sheets of financial institutions. This program is one of the initiatives coming out of the implementation of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) as implemented by the U.S. Treasury under Secretary Timothy Geithner. The major stock market indexes in the United States rallied on the day of the announcement rising by over six percent with the shares of bank stocks leading the way. As of early June 2009, the program had not been implemented yet and is considered delayed. Yet, the Legacy Securities Program implemented by the Federal Reserve has begun by fall 2009 and the Legacy Loans Program is being tested by the FDIC. The proposed size of the program has been drastically reduced relative to its proposed size when it was rolled out.
Background
One major proximate cause of the Financial crisis of 2007-2008 is the problem of "legacy assets" both real estate loans held directly on the books of banks ("legacy loans") and securities (ABSAsset-backed security
An asset-backed security is a security whose value and income payments are derived from and collateralized by a specified pool of underlying assets. The pool of assets is typically a group of small and illiquid assets that are unable to be sold individually...
's and MBS
MBS
MBS may stand for:* Maha Bodhi School, a school in Singapore* Mainichi Broadcasting System, television and radio broadcaster in Osaka, Japan* Manchester Business School, business school at the University of Manchester...
's) backed by loan portfolios ("legacy securities"). These assets create uncertainty around the balance sheets of these financial institutions, compromising their ability to raise capital and their willingness to increase lending.
Earlier in the decade, in response to the economic downturn caused by the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Federal Reserve lowered its target interest rates which, along with securitized credit instruments (legacy assets), caused increased credit availability for real estate loans. This increase in the availability of credit pushed up housing prices, causing a bubble.
The problem came with the bursting of the housing bubble in 2007, which generated losses for investors and banks. Losses were compounded by the lax underwriting standards that had been used by some lenders and by the proliferation of the complex securitization instruments, some of whose risks were not fully understood. The resulting need by investors and banks to reduce risk triggered a wide-scale deleveraging in these markets and led to fire sales. As prices declined, many traditional investors exited these markets, causing declines in market liquidity. As a result, a negative cycle developed where declining asset prices have triggered further deleveraging, which has in turn led to further price declines. The excessive discounts embedded in some legacy asset prices are now straining the capital of U.S. financial institutions, limiting their ability to lend and increasing the cost of credit throughout the financial system. The lack of clarity about the value of these legacy assets also made it difficult for some financial institutions to raise new private capital on their own.
It is widely but not universally held that the true value of each asset can be determined by swift, scrupulous research using appropriate software; and that many banks' and financial firms' unwillingness to do this is caused by their refusal to acknowledge responsibility for dangerously sloppy past sales and purchase practices.
Three basic principles
Using $75 to $100 billion in TARP capital and capital from private investors, the Public-Private Investment Program (P-PIP) will generate $500 billion in purchasing power to buy legacy assets with the potential to expand to $1 trillion over time. The Public-Private Investment Program will be designed around three basic principles:- Maximizing the impact of each taxpayer dollar: first, by using government financing in partnership with the FDIC and Federal Reserve and co-investment with private sector investors, substantial purchasing power will be created, making the most of taxpayer resources.
- Shared risk and profits with private sector participants: second, the Public-Private Investment Program ensures that private sector participants invest alongside the taxpayer, with the private sector investors standing to lose their entire investment in a downside scenario and the taxpayer sharing in profitable returns.
- Private sector price discovery: third, to reduce the likelihood that the government will overpay for these assets, private sector investors competing with one another will establish the price of the loans and securities purchased under the program.
Two assets types
The Public-Private Investment Program has two parts, addressing both the legacy loans and legacy securities clogging the balance sheets of financial firms. The funds will come in many instances in equal parts from the U.S. Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program monies, private investors, and from loans from the Federal Reserve's Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan FacilityTerm Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility
The Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility is a program created by the U.S. Federal Reserve to spur consumer credit lending. The program was announced on November 25, 2008 and was to support the issuance of asset-backed securities collateralized by student loans, auto loans, credit card...
(TALF).
Legacy loans
The overhang of troubled legacy loans stuck on bank balance sheets has made it difficult for banks to access private markets for new capital and limited their ability to lend. To cleanse bank balance sheets of troubled legacy loans and reduce the overhang of uncertainty associated with these assets, they will attract private capital to purchase eligible legacy loans from participating banks through the provision of FDIC debt guarantees and Treasury equity co-investment. The Treasury Department currently anticipates that approximately half of the TARP resources for legacy assets will be devoted to the Legacy Loans Program, but the program will allow for flexibility to allocate resources for the greatest impact.A broad array of investors are expected to participate in the Legacy Loans Program. The participation of individual investors, pension plans, insurance companies and other long-term investors is particularly encouraged. The Legacy Loans Program will facilitate the creation of individual Public-Private Investment Funds which will purchase asset pools on a discrete basis. The program will boost private demand for distressed assets that are currently held by banks and facilitate market-priced sales of troubled assets.
The FDIC will provide oversight for the formation, funding, and operation of these new funds that will purchase assets from banks. Treasury and private capital will provide equity financing and the FDIC will provide a guarantee for debt financing issued by the Public-Private Investment Funds to fund asset purchases. The Treasury will manage its investment on behalf of taxpayers to ensure the public interest is protected. The Treasury intends to provide 50 percent of the equity capital for each fund, but private managers will retain control of asset management subject to oversight from the FDIC.
Purchasing assets in the Legacy Loans Program will occur through the following process:
- Banks identify the assets they wish to sell: to start the process, banks will decide which assets usually a pool of loans they would like to sell. The FDIC will conduct an analysis to determine the amount of funding it is willing to guarantee. Leverage will not exceed a 6-to-1 debt-to-equity ratio. Assets eligible for purchase will be determined by the participating banks, their primary regulators, the FDIC and Treasury. Financial institutions of all sizes will be eligible to sell assets.
- Pools are auctioned off to the highest bidder: the FDIC will conduct an auction for these pools of loans. The highest bidder will have access to the Public-Private Investment Program to fund 50 percent of the equity requirement of their purchase.
- Financing is provided through FDIC guarantee: if the seller accepts the purchase price, the buyer would receive financing by issuing debt guaranteed by the FDIC. The FDIC-guaranteed debt would be collateralized by the purchased assets and the FDIC would receive a fee in return for its guarantee.
- Private sector partners manage the assets: once the assets have been sold, private fund managers will control and manage the assets until final liquidation, subject to strict FDIC oversight.
Legacy securities
Secondary markets have become highly illiquid, and are trading at prices below where they would be in normally functioning markets. These securities are held by banks as well as insurance companies, pension funds, mutual funds, and funds held in individual retirement accounts.The goal of the Legacy Securities Program is to restart the market for legacy securities, allowing banks and other financial institutions to free up capital and stimulate the extension of new credit. The Treasury anticipates that the resulting process of price discovery will also reduce the uncertainty surrounding the financial institutions holding these securities, potentially enabling them to raise new private capital. The Legacy Securities Program consists of two related parts designed to draw private capital into these markets by providing debt financing from the Federal Reserve under the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) and through matching private capital raised for dedicated funds targeting legacy securities. The lending program will address the broken markets for securities tied to residential and commercial real estate and consumer credit. The intention is to incorporate this program into the previously announced TALF.
- Providing investors greater confidence to purchase legacy assets: as with securitizations backed by new originations of consumer and business credit already included in the TALF, Treasury expects that the provision of leverage through this program will give investors greater confidence to purchase these assets, thus increasing market liquidity.
- Funding purchase of legacy securities: through this new program, non-recourse loans will be made available to investors to fund purchases of legacy securitization assets. Eligible assets are expected to include certain non-agency residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS) that were originally rated AAA and outstanding commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) and asset-backed securities (ABS) that are rated AAA.
- Working with market participants: borrowers will need to meet eligibility criteria. Haircuts will be determined at a later date and will reflect the riskiness of the assets provided as collateral. Lending rates, minimum loan sizes, and loan durations have not been determined, however, the Federal Reserve is working to ensure that the duration of these loans takes into account the duration of the underlying assets.
The Treasury Department will make co-investment/leverage available to partner with private capital providers to immediately support the market for legacy mortgage- and asset-backed securities originated prior to 2009 with a rating of AAA at origination. They will approve up to five asset managers with a demonstrated track record of purchasing legacy assets, however, they may consider adding more depending on the quality of applications received. Managers whose proposals have been approved will have a period of time to raise private capital to target the designated asset classes and will receive matching Treasury funds under the Public-Private Investment Program. Treasury funds will be invested one-for-one on a fully side-by-side basis with these investors.
Asset managers will have the ability, if their investment fund structures meet certain guidelines, to subscribe for senior debt for the Public-Private Investment Fund from the Treasury Department in the amount of 50% of total equity capital of the fund. The Treasury Department will consider requests for senior debt for the fund in the amount of 100% of its total equity capital subject to further restrictions.
Criticism
Economist and Nobel Prize winner Paul KrugmanPaul Krugman
Paul Robin Krugman is an American economist, professor of Economics and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, Centenary Professor at the London School of Economics, and an op-ed columnist for The New York Times...
has been very critical of this program arguing the non-recourse loans lead to a hidden subsidy that will be split by asset managers, banks' shareholders and creditors. Mr. Krugman argues that this will lead to wild overbidding for assets. Yet, research into the structure of the program shows that the overbidding incentives in non-recourse loans are subtle. If there are overbidding incentives, they depend on the amount of leverage, the interest rates and guarantee fees charged by the Federal Reserve or the FDIC, respectively, and the volatility of the toxic assets. Banking analyst Meridith Whitney argues that banks will not sell bad assets at fair market values because they are reluctant to take asset write downs. Removing toxic assets would also reduce the volatility of banks' stock prices. Because stock is a call option
Call option
A call option, often simply labeled a "call", is a financial contract between two parties, the buyer and the seller of this type of option. The buyer of the call option has the right, but not the obligation to buy an agreed quantity of a particular commodity or financial instrument from the seller...
on a firm's assets, this lost volatility
Volatility (finance)
In finance, volatility is a measure for variation of price of a financial instrument over time. Historic volatility is derived from time series of past market prices...
will hurt the stock price of distressed banks. Therefore, such banks will only sell toxic assets at above market prices. The program has been hampered by the announcement by Standard & Poor's
Standard & Poor's
Standard & Poor's is a United States-based financial services company. It is a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies that publishes financial research and analysis on stocks and bonds. It is well known for its stock-market indices, the US-based S&P 500, the Australian S&P/ASX 200, the Canadian...
that many eligible assets would be downgraded by the rating agency, making them ineligible for the program. Federal Reserve of New York president William Dudley
William Dudley (economist)
William C. Dudley is the president of Federal Reserve Bank of New York and vice-chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee. He was appointed to the position on January 27, 2009, following the confirmation of his predecessor, Timothy F. Geithner, as United States Secretary of the...
stated on June 4 that "there's a huge administrative hurdle" to implementing the program.