Off Balance Sheet

aka OffTheBooks

financing of activities/risks in a way that hides them

• this allows financial organizations to take on more risk than regulations are intended to allow

Enron did this via their "partnerships" (Special Purpose Entity) [z2002-02-27-d]

The US Federal Government does this through various "funds" (e.g. Social Security)

New York State does this through various State Funded Authority groups

CitiBank did this in the Sub-Prime/CDO market through Liquidity Put-s. [z2007-12-04-CitibankLosses]