Structured Finance: Concepts and Perspectives

Structured finance is one topic that is widely discussed in the financial circles around the world. The term is being increasingly used in the financial parlance for identifying a loan deal that is different from a purely traditional loan arrangement. The increasing complexity and variants in Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs) and increased usage of Credit Derivatives and Swaps (CDS) in these transactions which, in turn, have given rise to synthetic loan transfers, has led to the term ‘Structured Finance’ being widely used to identify such transactions. The evolution in structuring of financial products can be traced to Western developed markets with the popular usage of securitization as a tool in relieving the illiquid assets such as long-term loan portfolio and use them as collateral to raise additional funds. The popularity of these securitized bonds is because of the advantages they provide to the parties associated with their issuance such as off balance sheet financing, immediate cash benefits, flexibility, and tradable securities for investors etc. The structured finance universe has a plethora of innovative products that range from ABS to CDOs squared catering to the necessities of the market. The structured finance market is growing across the world with newer innovations day by day. In this context of high growth of financial products and services and liberalization of financial markets, this book "Structured Finance: Concepts and Perspectives" captures the concepts and perspectives underlying structured finance and introduces the readers to the various products and innovative instruments that come under the wider gamut of structured finance.