Securitization and Structured Finance Post Credit Crunch: A Best Practice Deal Lifecycle Guide

Preface

If you can’t wait to delve into the substance of the book, I suggest you go straight to Chapter 1: Introduction. However, if you would like to find out more about the background to the book, why it was written, and how it evolved during writing (at the height of the credit crunch in a largely frozen structured finance market), then the preface to the book will paint the picture of my personal journey whilst writing—and pausing—and writing again about a market that was at the time of writing going through both major revolutionary and evolutionary changes, which served to set the backdrop to the book.

The original idea for this book dates back to early 2007 and, by the time the initial proposal was approved by my publisher, the structured finance markets had started to crumble—big time. Nevertheless, I continued working on an early draft until October 2008. Despite there being little new public issuance and virtually closed secondary structured finance markets, I still felt it right to continue.

However, the collapse of Lehman Brothers and its impact on global financial markets forced me to take a step back and give thought to some fundamental questions: given that the structured finance markets had since November 2007 dried up, with very limited public issuance and non-existent secondary-market trading, I wondered whether it would ever return and, if so, when. Seasoned market participants’ view on this issue was clearly divided: some said “yes” (with some reservations), ...