Pierre Pourquery, of Boston Consulting Group, says it is not uncommon for investors to break their exotic purchases into smaller pieces in order to feed them into their risk-management systems.

ECONOMIST: Securitisation

But unlike the other Maiden Lane assets already sold by the Fed, the Triaxx CDO is more of a notorious villain of the 2008 financial crisis and may present more of a challenge for banks looking to break it up and sell it off in pieces.

FORBES: The Fed, Wall Street Prepare to Unleash Crisis 2.0