This week, UBS announced plans to place its troubled mortgage-related securities in a separate subsidiary--the idea being that it would eventually be able to find investors in the fund. Such deals effectively would take the assets of the balance sheet. The Financial Times reports that other top banks are thinking of following suit and creating similar "bad banks." Another idea floating around is that regulators would help set up a single fund to absorb troubled assets from many institutions. That doesn't seem likely, but you get the idea that a lot of novel ideas are turning up as banks grapple with the really toxic stuff.  

For more:
- here's the Financial Times article

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