The Q is dead

Long live son of the Q. If there is one. The FASB explains that:

it expects to issue three separate but related Exposure Drafts on or around September 15, 2008, for public comment...

The proposed Statement to amend Statement 140, would, among other things, remove the concept of a qualifying special-purpose entity (SPE) and would remove the exception from applying Interpretation 46(R) to qualifying special-purpose entities (SPEs).

Now Qs are not the only way to do a securitisation under US accounting, but there are a common way. The standard won't come into effect until 2010 according to Housing Wire, and we are still a long way from the cliff edge given the comment period. Still this proposed change is something the structured finance community needs to take very very seriously.