Standish Mellon Asset Management Company LLC is one of the first financial services companies to offer investment strategies based on securities related to the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF). Standish said it is initiating these strategies because of strong expressions of interest from its clients. It expects to begin investing client money by early July.
“We believe that investors who are the early buyers of asset-backed securities (ABS) in the TALF Program have the potential for the biggest gains,” said Desmond Mac Intyre, president and chief executive officer of Standish. “As more money flows into these investments, the overall spreads …read more

Yesterday the Obama Administration revealed their three-part Public-Private Investment Program to clean up so-called toxic assets off bank books. Here’s the plan.
Part 1 – Bundling Whole Mortgages
Under one component of the plan, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) will provide oversight for a program of bundled mortgages. Banks will group whole mortgages together to sell to private investors. The FDIC will then auction these off. Making the investment attractive is the fact that the government would lend up to 85% of the purchase price for each portfolio of mortgages. (See my post on leverage from last week.)
Part 2 – Pooled Mortgages
While the bundling …read more