The Federal Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) was a ten-member panel created by President Barack Obama in 2009 to investigate the causes of the financial and economic crisis in the United States.
Monoline insurers provide guarantees to bond issuers to enhance their creditworthiness. After being highly active in the mid-2000s, particularly in complex structured finance instruments, they faced significant losses due to the subprime lending disaster of 2007.
Structured finance refers to the creation of complex debt instruments through methods such as securitization or the incorporation of derivatives to existing instruments. It involves asset pooling, tranching of liabilities, and the creation of special purpose vehicles to mitigate risk.
An exploration of subprime lending: providing loans to borrowers with poor credit ratings. Discussing the risks, costs, and historical implications—especially the role in the 2007-08 financial crisis.
Toxic assets are financial instruments for which there is no longer a functioning market, making their value highly uncertain and leading to difficulties in selling them at reasonable prices. The term gained prominence during the financial crisis following the 2008 subprime lending debacle.
The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) was a U.S. government initiative aimed at stabilizing the financial system and restoring bank lending during the subprime mortgage crisis by purchasing up to $700 billion in troubled assets from financial institutions.
