##e, meaning that the borrower can put the collateral to the federal reserve rather than repay the loan if the collateral value falls sufficiently below the amount owed. the provision of non - recourse loans helped to encourage investor participation. in late 2008, when secondary market spreads had spiked and risk aversion was high, investors were uncertain as to when and how the market would stabilize. non - recourse lending helped place a floor on investor losses, thus increasing market confidence broadly and facilitating the return of structured product investors. source : morgan markets. note : this includes securitizations of auto loans and leases, credit card account balances, student loans, dealer floorplan loans, and business equipment loans and leases. second, talf loans have considerably longer maturities than the lending from the federal reserve ’ s discount window and its other temporary liquidity facilities. the term of the loans, which were either three or five years, was intended to more closely match the maturity of the underlying securities, as needed to encourage investors to return to the market. in addition, loans with longer terms were viewed as more effective, as financing would extend well beyond the expected end of the recession. the combination of these two elements – non - recourse loans and long maturities – was critical to the success of program. without one or the other, investors would have had exposure to short - term swings in risk premiums in a time of extreme volatility, which would have likely limited participation and thus reduced the program ’ s effectiveness. a third notable feature of the talf was that it was available to a wide set of market participants beyond the federal reserve ’ s traditional bank counterparties. this feature reflected the program ’ s broad focus on a financial market rather than a particular set of financial firms. given the wide array of market participants, the program ’ s broad reach was necessary to effectively support the entire market. let me turn to the program ’ s achievements. by providing liquidity and a backstop to limit losses to investors, the talf contributed importantly to the revival of securitized credit markets. secondary spreads narrowed significantly, and volatility moderated. moreover, the improvements in the secondary market helped re - start the new - issue market. issuance of non - mortgage asset - backed securities jumped to $ 35 billion in the first three months of talf lending in 2009, after having slowed to less than $ 1 billion per month in late 2008. during those initial

learn how firms and consumers are experiencing the economy. that essential insight from main street informs the policy decisions that we make in pursuit of our goals of stable prices, full employment and financial stability. staying connected with main street is also important because the effectiveness of our policy actions is enhanced when private actors have a clear understanding of what our actions are intended to accomplish. for these complex policy decisions, the federal reserve system needs accurate and timely information on business and financial conditions, and the perspectives of participants in markets throughout the united states. economic conditions often differ in various parts of the country, and it is important that the fed takes all of this into account when it formulates policy. this input is particularly important for the second district of the federal reserve, where we sit today, because the forces that drive economic conditions here often do not mirror the forces driving other regional economies. in order to monitor and understand the various aspects of local economic conditions, we utilize a number of different measures. two of these measures we have developed here at the new york fed – a survey of manufacturers and indexes of economic activity. we regularly produce the beige book and report information on local credit conditions. these measures supplement and extend the understanding gleaned from public data sources. we also seek input from regular meetings with several advisory groups representing different facets of the district ’ s economy – such as our small business, upstate new york and thrift institutions panels – and from interactions with key academic researchers at local universities and public policy organizations. we recognize that timely and accurate information about our region, which is highly valuable to us, can also help to reduce uncertainty and inform the economic and financial decisions of regional residents, businesses, communities and governments. to that end, we make our various regional measures and analysis available to the public through our website and a variety of outreach activities. these activities include making presentations on topics of current concern to business and community organizations throughout the district. we welcome you here today to brief you on our views of the current state of activity and employment in the regional economy and to review the rich portfolio of resources that we make available to help monitor economic conditions across the region.