FASB rule baffles CDO market

New angles

The long-awaited guidance from the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) on financial reporting for special-purpose entities (SPEs) has failed to enlighten the structured finance community as to its implications on accounting for collateralised debt obligations (CDOs).

“After a long and tortuous process FASB did release this guidance, and it is very surprising to me that there is still very little certainty as to what it means,” says Alex Reyfman, a New York-based credit portfolio quant