Reported in the Business section today, the Canadian financial institutions have agreed on a restructure of $33 Bn in Asset Backed Commercial Paper (ABCP). That ABCP has been frozen and not able to be traded since August, when the US Subprime crunch hit.

The deal includes a $14 Bn credit facility, and basically exchanges short term notes for longer dated paper.

Interestingly the spokesperson for the group that arranged the deal, is a Toronto lawyer, Purdy Crawford. The group is called Pan-Canadian Investors. Based on conversations with a colleague, I suspect this is all a front for the Bank of Canada attempting to calm the markets, by replacing short term pressure on the market with longer terms.