In the wake of the credit crunch, structured finance is linked to bailed-out investment banks and overpaid executives rather than to the innovative financial solutions it continues to provide. The initial response from the financial markets has been a move back to basics, to plain vanilla transactions. Furthermore, securitization, derivatives and other structured products are facing intense regulatory and political scrutiny. These pressures notwithstanding, the potential of structured finance will play an important part in facilitating recovery. This book explains why.