Deals of the year 2010: FDIC $4 billion multi-tranche structured sale guaranteed note

Mortgage securitization markets have been practically frozen since 2008, largely because of the overhang of distressed assets that sit on the balance sheets of banks and the main mortgage agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both of which now sit under US government conservatorship. For the Federal Deposit ­Insurance Corp, which has absorbed the assets of 324 failed banks since the beginning of 2008, the challenge was to dispose of its most distressed assets and rebuild its deposit insurance fund without further depressing prices in the underlying market.