The market for securitized products has expanded around the globe. Two factors in particular have supported this expansion: advances in financial engineering have enabled a wide range of products to be synthesized for the purpose of transforming and reselling the risks and returns on portfolios of underlying assets; and investors with various risk preferences have begun to invest and invest more actively according to their individual needs. In Japan, issuances of securitized products are on the rise, and are held primarily by financial institutions. Basically, these securitized products are being utilized by investors as an investment choice for effectively controlling the risk and return on an investment portfolio. They also could contribute to improving the efficiency of financial markets by providing economic entities requiring funds with a new means for fund-raising.
