Comment Letter to Treasury on Restoring PLS Market

On August 8, Morrison & Foerster LLP filed a comment letter with the United States Department of the Treasury in response to a request for comments on the private sector development of a well-functioning private label securities (PLS) market for residential mortgage loans. The comment letter notes that perhaps the easiest way to restore private funding to residential mortgage loans in the United States is to implement a covered bond statute in the United States to enable U.S. banks to issue covered bonds. The letter notes that the conditions necessary to the establishment of a covered bod market in the United States are well advanced and that the market could be established quickly. Based on the development of the investor base in the United States, the SEC’s establishment of disclosure and reporting standards, and the well-developed legislation, creation of a domestic covered bond market would appear to be low hanging fruit that Treasury should take advantage of.