TheStreet.com takes a look at qualified special purpose entities, which you might have thought ended in the Enron era. FASB amended FAS 140 earlier this year to eliminate qualified special purpose entities, or QSPEs. This will take effect at the end of the year. 

At a glance, the exposures look big. Citigroup had $822 billion in QSPE exposure last year. JPMorgan Chase had $640 billion. Bank of America's exposure was a $81 billion and Wells Fargo was just $39 billion. Bringing these assets onto the books would obviously result in some big losses and could put a big dent in a bank's capital position. The issue is whether the stress tests factored in this accounting change when they set their capital raising standards for each bank. My guess is that they have, but I'd feel better hearing that from the regulators. 

For more:
- here's the article

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