Investment banks up to the same old shit. From: MORGAN STANLEY & CO. LLC CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2017 (PDF)

“Credit Linked Notes

In a Credit Linked Notes (CLN) transaction, the Company transfers assets (generally high quality securities or money market investments) to a Special Purpose Entity (SPE). An affiliate of the Company enters into a derivative transaction in which the SPE writes protection on an unrelated reference asset or group of assets, through a Credit Default Swap (CDS), a total return swap or similar instrument, and sells to investors the securities issued by the SPE.

In some transactions, an affiliate of the Company may also enter into interest rate or currency swaps with the SPE. Upon the occurrence of a credit event related to the reference asset, the SPE will deliver collateral securities as payment to the affiliate of the Company that serves as the derivative counterparty. These transactions are designed to provide investors with exposure to certain credit risk on the reference asset.

In some transactions, the assets and liabilities of the SPE are recognized in the Company’s consolidated statement of financial condition. In other transactions, the transfer of the collateral securities is accounted for as a sale of assets, and the SPE is not consolidated. The structure of the transaction determines the accounting treatment.

The derivatives in CLN transactions consist of total return swaps, credit default swaps or similar contracts in which an affiliate of the Company has purchased protection on a reference asset or group of assets. Payments by the SPE are collateralized.”