SIV liquidity problems: The next wave looms

Funding problems for the structured investment vehicles at the heart of this year’s liquidity troubles are far from over, despite the move by a number of banks to step in to support their vehicles, reports the FT’s Paul Davies on Tuesday.

January will bring the start of a second wave of liquidity problems for SIVs as the vast majority of medium-term funding starts to come due for repayment, according to a report from Dresdner Kleinwort analysts to be published on Wednesday.

SIVs rely on cheap, short-term debt to fund investments in longer-term, higher-yielding securities. This cheap debt has come from both the very short-term commercial paper markets and from the slightly longer maturity, medium-term note (MTN) markets. CP funding has long dried up and much of what was sold has matured.

So far, SIVs have primarily felt the impact of collapsed CP issuance, Domenico Picone at DrK told the FT. Outstanding MTN for the 30 SIVs currently stands at $181bn, which will be the next liquidity challenge they face, he added.

This represents almost 65 per cent of the value of the SIV sector in mid-October, and it is likely that SIVs have shrunk a great deal more since then.

According to the DrK analysts’ calculations, two-thirds of all MTN funding for SIVs comes due for repayment by the end of next September. Almost $40bn is to be repaid from January to March alone.

This second liquidity squeeze will affect some SIVs more than others.

Sigma Finance, run by Gordian Knot, accounts for 22.5 per cent of all outstanding MTNs issued by SIVs, says Davies. It must repay about $22.5bn by the end of September and another $2.5bn in the final quarter.

Another heavy borrower in the MTN market is HSBC’s Cullinan Finance, which must repay $19bn by the end of September. DrK has to repay $13.4bn over the coming nine months and Citigroup $29.1bn.