Markit's ABX.HE 08-1 Postponed

Markit today announced that the roll of the Markit ABX.HE has been postponed for three months. The new series, the Markit ABX.HE 08-1, was supposed to launch on Jan. 19. The decision to postpone its launch, according to a company release, was a result of extensive consultation with the dealer community and follows a lack of RMBS deals issued in the second half of 2007 that are eligible for inclusion in the forthcoming Markit ABX.HE roll. The Markit ABX.HE 07-2 remains the on-the-run series until further notice, the release said. Markit said that only five deals qualified for inclusion in the Markit ABX.HE 08-1 under current index rules. Markit and the dealer community considered changing the index rules to include deals that failed to qualify initially but decided against this approach. Both Markit and the dealer community "remain fully committed to the index and will update the market as and when appropriate," the release said.