Geithner, Timothy

The proliferation of credit risk transfer instruments was driven in part by an assumption of frictionless, uninterrupted liquidity. This left credit and funding markets more vulnerable when liquidity receded. Banks and other financial institutions lent substantial amounts of money on the assumption that they would be able to distribute that risk easily into liquid markets. A sizable fraction of long-term assets—assets with exposure to different forms of credit risk—ended up in vehicles financed with very short-term liabilities and was placed with investors and funds that were also exposed to liquidity risk.