Note 9.  Securitizations and Other Variable Interest Entities

 

Merrill Lynch utilizes VIEs in the ordinary course of business to support its own and its customers’ financing and investing needs. Merrill Lynch securitizes loans and debt securities using VIEs as a source of funding and as a means of transferring the economic risk of the loans or debt securities to third parties. Merrill Lynch also administers, structures or invests in other VIEs including municipal bond trusts, CDOs and other entities as described in more detail below.

 

The entity that has a controlling financial interest in a VIE is referred to as the primary beneficiary and consolidates the VIE. Merrill Lynch is deemed to have a controlling financial interest and is the primary beneficiary of a VIE if it has both the power to direct the activities of the VIE that most significantly impact the VIE’s economic performance and an obligation to absorb losses or the right to receive benefits that could potentially be significant to the VIE.

 

The tables below present the assets and liabilities of consolidated and unconsolidated VIEs if Merrill Lynch has continuing involvement with transferred assets or if Merrill Lynch otherwise has a variable interest in the VIE. For consolidated VIEs, these amounts are net of intercompany balances. The tables also present Merrill Lynch’s maximum exposure to loss resulting from its involvement with consolidated VIEs and unconsolidated VIEs in which Merrill Lynch holds a variable interest as of September 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010. Merrill Lynch’s maximum exposure to loss is based on the unlikely event that all of the assets in the VIEs become worthless and incorporates not only potential losses associated with assets recorded on Merrill Lynch’s Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet but also potential losses associated with off-balance sheet commitments such as unfunded liquidity commitments and other contractual arrangements. Merrill Lynch’s maximum exposure to loss does not include losses previously recognized.

 

Merrill Lynch invests in ABS issued by third party VIEs with which it has no other form of involvement. These securities are described in more detail in Note 8. In addition, Merrill Lynch uses VIEs such as trust preferred securities trusts in connection with its funding activities (see Note 12).

 

Except as described below, Merrill Lynch has not provided financial support to consolidated or unconsolidated VIEs that it was not contractually required to provide, nor does it intend to do so.

 

Loan VIEs

 

Merrill Lynch securitizes mortgage loans that it originates or purchases from third parties. In certain circumstances, Merrill Lynch has continuing involvement with the securitized loans as servicer of the loans. Merrill Lynch may also retain beneficial interests in the securitization vehicles including senior and subordinated securities, and the equity tranche. Except as described below, Merrill Lynch does not provide guarantees to the securitization vehicles and investors do not have recourse to Merrill Lynch other than through standard representations and warranties.

 

The following table summarizes certain information related to Loan VIEs in which Merrill Lynch is either the transferor, servicer or sponsor and holds a variable interest as of September 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010.

 

 

In accordance with consolidation guidance, Merrill Lynch consolidates Loan VIEs in which it has a controlling financial interest. For loan securitizations, Merrill Lynch is considered to have a controlling financial interest (i.e., is the primary beneficiary) when it is the servicer of the loans and also holds a financial interest that could potentially be significant to the entity. If Merrill Lynch is not the servicer of an entity or does not hold a financial interest that could be significant to the entity, Merrill Lynch does not have a controlling financial interest and does not consolidate the entity. Merrill Lynch does not have a controlling financial interest in and does not consolidate agency trusts unless Merrill Lynch holds all of the issued securities and has the unilateral right to liquidate the trust.

 

Merrill Lynch sells mortgage loans to VIEs with various representations and warranties related to, among other things, the ownership of the loan, validity of the lien securing the loan, absence of delinquent taxes or liens against the property securing the loan, the process used in selecting the loans for inclusion in a transaction, the loan’s compliance with any applicable loan criteria established by the buyer, and the loan’s compliance with applicable local, state and federal laws. Under these representations and warranties, Merrill Lynch may be required to repurchase mortgage loans with the identified defects or indemnify or provide other recourse to the investor or insurer. In such cases, Merrill Lynch bears any subsequent credit loss on the mortgage loans. Merrill Lynch’s representations and warranties are generally not subject to stated limits and extend over the life of the loans. See Note 14.

 

Municipal Bond Securitizations

 

Merrill Lynch sponsors municipal bond trusts that hold highly-rated, long-term, fixed-rate municipal bonds, some of which are callable prior to maturity. A majority of the bonds are rated AAA or AA and some benefit from insurance provided by third parties. The trusts obtain financing by issuing floating-rate trust certificates that reprice on a frequent basis to third party investors. Merrill Lynch may serve as remarketing agent and/or liquidity provider for the trusts. The floating-rate investors have the right to tender the certificates at specified dates, often with as little as seven days’ notice. Should Merrill Lynch be unable to remarket the tendered certificates, it is generally obligated to purchase them at par under standby liquidity facilities unless the bond’s credit rating has declined below investment grade or there has been an event of default or bankruptcy of the issuer and insurer.

 

Merrill Lynch also provides default protection or credit enhancement to investors in certain municipal bond trusts whereby Merrill Lynch guarantees the payment of interest and principal on floating-rate certificates issued by these trusts. If an investor holds the residual interest, that investor typically has the unilateral ability to liquidate the trust at any time, while Merrill Lynch typically has the ability to trigger the liquidation of that trust only if the market value of the bonds held in the trust declines below a specified threshold. The weighted average remaining life of bonds held in the trusts at September 30, 2011 was 10.9 years.

 

The following table summarizes certain information related to municipal bond trusts in which Merrill Lynch holds a variable interest as of September 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010.

 

 

Merrill Lynch consolidates municipal bond trusts when it has a controlling financial interest. As transferor of assets into a trust, Merrill Lynch has the power to determine which assets would be held in the trust and to structure the liquidity facilities, default protection and credit enhancement, if applicable. In some instances, Merrill Lynch retains a residual interest in such trusts and has loss exposure that could potentially be significant to the trust through the residual interest, liquidity facilities and other arrangements. Merrill Lynch is also the remarketing agent, through which it has the power to direct the activities that most significantly impact economic performance. Accordingly, Merrill Lynch is the primary beneficiary of and consolidates these trusts. In other instances, one or more third party investor(s) hold(s) the residual interest and, through that interest, has the unilateral right to liquidate the trust. Merrill Lynch does not consolidate these trusts.

 

In the three and nine months ended September 30, 2011, Merrill Lynch was the transferor of assets into unconsolidated municipal bond trusts and received cash proceeds from new securitizations of $182 million and $509 million, respectively, as compared with $226 million and $1.0 billion, respectively, in the three and nine months ended September 30, 2010. At September 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010, the principal balance outstanding for unconsolidated municipal bond securitization trusts for which Merrill Lynch was the transferor was $1.6 billion and $1.7 billion, respectively.

 

Merrill Lynch’s liquidity commitments to unconsolidated municipal bond trusts totaled $1.1 billion and $1.3 billion at September 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010, respectively.

 

CDOs

 

CDO vehicles hold diversified pools of fixed income securities, typically corporate debt or asset-backed securities, which they fund by issuing multiple tranches of debt and equity securities. Synthetic CDOs enter into a portfolio of credit default swaps to synthetically create exposure to fixed income securities. CLOs are a subset of CDOs that hold pools of loans, typically corporate loans or commercial mortgages. CDOs are typically managed by third party portfolio managers. Merrill Lynch transfers assets to these CDOs, holds securities issued by the CDOs, and may be a derivative counterparty to the CDOs, including credit default swap counterparty for synthetic CDOs. Merrill Lynch has also entered into total return swaps with certain CDOs whereby Merrill Lynch will absorb the economic returns generated by specified assets held by the CDO. Merrill Lynch receives fees for structuring CDOs and providing liquidity support for super senior tranches of securities issued by certain CDOs.

 

The following table summarizes certain information related to CDO vehicles in which Merrill Lynch holds a variable interest as of September 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010.

 

 

Merrill Lynch’s maximum exposure to loss is significantly less than the total assets of the CDO vehicles in the table above because Merrill Lynch typically has exposure to only a portion of the total assets.

 

At September 30, 2011, Merrill Lynch had $2.6 billion of aggregate liquidity exposure to CDOs. This amount includes $872 million of commitments to CDOs to provide funding for super senior exposures and $1.7 billion notional amount of derivative contracts with unconsolidated VIEs, principally CDO vehicles, which hold non-super senior CDO debt securities or other debt securities on Merrill Lynch’s behalf. Refer to Note 14 for additional information. Merrill Lynch’s liquidity exposure to CDOs at September 30, 2011 is included in the table above to the extent that Merrill Lynch sponsored the CDO vehicle or the liquidity exposure is more than insignificant compared to total assets of the CDO vehicle. Liquidity exposure included in the table is reported net of previously recorded losses.

 

Customer Vehicles

 

Customer vehicles include credit-linked and equity-linked note vehicles and repackaging vehicles, which are typically created on behalf of customers who wish to obtain exposure to a specific company or financial instrument. Credit-linked and equity-linked note vehicles issue notes which pay a return that is linked to the specific credit or equity risk. The vehicles purchase high-grade assets as collateral and enter into CDS or equity derivatives to synthetically create the credit or equity risk required to pay the specified return on the notes issued by the vehicles. Repackaging vehicles issue notes that are designed to incorporate risk characteristics desired by customers of Merrill Lynch. The vehicles hold debt instruments such as corporate bonds, convertible bonds or ABS with the desired credit risk profile. Merrill Lynch enters into derivatives with the vehicles to change the interest rate or currency profile of the debt instruments. If a vehicle holds convertible bonds and Merrill Lynch retains the conversion option, Merrill Lynch is deemed to have a controlling financial interest and consolidates the vehicle.

 

The following table summarizes certain information related to customer vehicles in which Merrill Lynch holds a variable interest as of September 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010.

 

 

Merrill Lynch consolidates customer vehicles in which it has a controlling financial interest. Merrill Lynch typically has control over the initial design of the vehicle and may also have the ability to replace the collateral assets. Merrill Lynch consolidates these vehicles if it also absorbs potentially significant gains or losses through derivative contracts or investments. Merrill Lynch does not consolidate a vehicle if a single investor controlled the initial design of the vehicle or if Merrill Lynch does not have a variable interest that could potentially be significant to the vehicle.

 

Merrill Lynch is typically the counterparty for the credit and equity derivatives, and it may invest in securities issued by the vehicles. Merrill Lynch may also enter into interest rate and foreign currency derivatives with the vehicles. Merrill Lynch had approximately $853 million of other liquidity commitments, including written put options and collateral value guarantees, with unconsolidated credit-linked and equity-linked note vehicles at September 30, 2011.

 

Merrill Lynch’s maximum exposure to loss from customer vehicles includes the notional amount of the credit or equity derivatives to which it is counterparty, net of losses previously recorded, and Merrill Lynch’s investment, if any, in securities issued by the vehicles. It has not been reduced to reflect the benefit of offsetting swaps with the customers or collateral arrangements.

 

Real Estate and other VIEs

 

Real Estate and other VIEs primarily includes a real estate investment fund that is a VIE, investments in VIEs that hold investment property, certain hedge fund investment entities, and residential agency resecuritizations.

 

The following table summarizes certain information related to Real Estate and other VIEs in which Merrill Lynch holds a variable interest as of September 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010.

 

 

Merrill Lynch consolidates real estate and other VIEs in which it has a controlling financial interest. Merrill Lynch has established real estate investment funds designed to provide returns to clients through limited partnership holdings. Merrill Lynch was originally the general partner and the investment advisor, making management decisions. In 2010, Merrill Lynch transferred its management responsibilities to third parties but retained a limited partnership interest in these funds.

 

Merrill Lynch invests in real estate lending vehicles and establishes vehicles to hold real estate investments. In certain instances these entities do not have sufficient equity to finance operations and are therefore considered VIEs. Merrill Lynch consolidates these vehicles when it has decision-making power over the property held by the vehicle and absorbs potentially significant gains or losses through its equity or loan investment.

 

Other Asset-backed Financing Arrangements

 

Merrill Lynch transferred pools of securities to certain independent third parties and provided financing for approximately 75 percent of the purchase price under asset-backed financing arrangements. At September 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010, Merrill Lynch’s maximum loss exposure under these financing arrangements was $5.4 billion and $6.5 billion, respectively, substantially all of which was recorded as loans, notes and mortgages on Merrill Lynch’s Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet. All principal and interest payments have been received when due in accordance with their contractual terms. These arrangements are not included in the tables above because the purchasers are not VIEs.