Securitization Still Faces Hurdles in Asia

Efforts to securitize mortgages and other assets are making headway in Asia, but they still face some challenges, according to two recent reports on the outlook for the market.Asian markets like Hong Kong's, which raised funds through a mortgage-backed securities program last year, show potential for seeing issuance activity again this year, according to a report by Moody's Investors Service. But in China, for example, there still exist conditions that are "drawbacks" for the development of a residential MBS market, Standard & Poor's reported. These include "the immaturity of the secondary housing market" in that country, S&P said. S&P can be found on the Web at http://www.standardandpoors.com.