You've probably heard of mortgage-backed securities (they hit it big around 2007). They involve bundling a bunch of mortgage loans together and selling them as a security.
An investor can buy an MBS and make money on a group of mortgages. The securities allow people to invest in mortgages without having to loan money to homeowners. Meanwhile, they allow banks to securitize and sell off some of their risk. And because they include a bunch of mortgages, they offer some diversification (unless the entire market collapses).
A Financial Asset Securitization Investment Trust works on a similar premise. Except in the case of a FASIT, the security isn't backed by long-term mortgage loans. Instead, the debts getting securitized include shorter-maturity loans with collateral other than a home (or sometimes with no collateral at all).
FASITs might bundle together car loans or personal loans. Or the trusts could include no-collateral debt, like those from credit card companies. The goal again is to allow the selling of risk by the companies issuing the debt, and to provide a new type of investment for potential buyers.
Related or Semi-related Video
Finance: What is an Asset Backed Securit...7 Views
Finance Allah Shmoop what is an asset backed security Well
if you haven't seen our M night channel on directed
video on Collateral you should It won the Academy Award
for best finance video frequently confused with a Tom Cruise
action flick Riveting stuff So why would you see this
or other videos while other than to see Cem truly
groundbreaking CG effects like this Because assets backing a security
our collateral that is the asset itself is the guarantee
that bond holders get if the money isn't paid back
or said differently The bonds borrowed against the assets function
as the collateral in the loan funding whatever a B
s security is being offered You have an airplane or
actually one hundred of them together they're worth two billion
box bonds were issued to buy them two billion bucks
worth of bonds BBB The planes are going to be
incorporated into SHMOOP West Airlines flight schedule Only problem Shmoop
West doesn't have the collateral or the cash Ola to
just you know by them But shmoop West Air can
lease them or pay interest on them for the privilege
of using them And that's a good thing because well
eBay airlines just happens to own a bunch of used
airplanes So what happens then Well the owner of the
airplanes pledges them as collateral and raises cash ola money
in the form of bonds by borrowing against the assets
of the airplane The asset of the airplane is the
guarantee that backs the bond Should something up you know
go awry So uh yeah On behalf of everyone here
it's shmoop West Air We'd like to wish you a
safe ish flight Peanuts
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