No ABS impact on Lehman Index changes

 While changes in eligibility qualifications to the Lehman Brothers U.S. Aggregate Index will reduce its MBS exposure by 46 issues, there is no impact on the bank's ABS index, sources said. While the benchmark index has increased minimum size requirements to $200 million from $150 million, qualifications for the separate ABS Index will remain $500 million total deal size and $25 million tranche size. Corporates, by contrast, will lose approximately 586 deals, for a total of $86 billion of the more than $3.6 trillion of corporate unsecured debt exposure.