Banks discuss propping up mortgage notes

NEW YORK, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- Major banks are discussing a $75 billion fund to be used to prop up the market for mortgage securities, The New York Times reported Saturday.

The group of banks involved in the talks includes Citigroup, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase. The money would be used to buy mortgage securities owned by bank-affiliated investment vehicles.

"Treasury is very serious about getting some solution in place to take away the fear hanging over the markets," said Alex Roever, a credit analyst at JPMorgan Chase who is not involved in the talks. "It is a very challenging thing to do. There are so many parties involved and they all don’t agree."

The structured investment vehicles, often organized by banks, invest in securities backed by mortgages or credit-card debt. The market has been tarred by problems with subprime mortgages.