WASHINGTON D.C. — The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced Monday that they had approved an extension to the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF), including the newest provisions for commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS). While the Treasury noted that conditions in the financial markets have improved in recent months, facilities for CMBS and other consumer and business loans are still impaired. As such, TALF will be extended on newly issues asset backed securities (ABS) and legacy CMBS loans through March 31, 2010. Because CMBS deals can take a longer time to arrange, the Fed and Treasury approved TALF lending against newly issued CMBS through June 30, 2010. The Fed and Treasury also announced on Monday that, at present, it will not be expanding the TALF program to other types of collateral.
— Randy Shearin