When only $1.7 billion in Talf (term asset-backed securities loan facility) loans were issued in April’s opening for funding, it provided critics of the US government’s attempts at solving the financial crisis with yet more ammunition. But are such negative perceptions of the programme warranted? Talf has, opposed perhaps to other acronymic programmes, been well-thought-out, with the end consumer in mind, rather than the banks. Investors are keen to participate but issuers who tend to be cautious in their borrowing are understandably nervous.
Perhaps most damaging to its success has been the proposal of the PPIP (public private investment programme) which essentially plans to offload banks’ toxic...
