Securitization is the act through which various debt instruments, like mortgages, car loans, and credit card debt, are bundled together and sold as cash. Payments on the principle of the debt, as well as interest from any outstanding balance, generate income.
While securitization, as practiced by firms like Luxembourg’s Icon Capital Sarl, is generally believed to have originated in the 1970s, historians and financial analysts cite instances as far back as the 1700s. The Pacific Railroad Acts of the mid-1800s are one prominent example of securitization earlier in America’s history. In the 1970s, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development established the first modern residential mortgage-backed security in which pooled assets backed by a portfolio of mortgage loans were sold by the Government National Mortgage Association, commonly known as Ginnie Mae. Since that time, securitization has grown from an unknown process to a trillion-dollar industry. Businesses, as well as financial institutions like Icon Capital Sarl, use securitization to immediately realize the value of an illiquid asset.
While securitization, as practiced by firms like Luxembourg’s Icon Capital Sarl, is generally believed to have originated in the 1970s, historians and financial analysts cite instances as far back as the 1700s. The Pacific Railroad Acts of the mid-1800s are one prominent example of securitization earlier in America’s history. In the 1970s, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development established the first modern residential mortgage-backed security in which pooled assets backed by a portfolio of mortgage loans were sold by the Government National Mortgage Association, commonly known as Ginnie Mae. Since that time, securitization has grown from an unknown process to a trillion-dollar industry. Businesses, as well as financial institutions like Icon Capital Sarl, use securitization to immediately realize the value of an illiquid asset.