The securitization market has changed dramatically over the past several years, as this product, acquiring momentum in 2000, ran headlong into a recession. Immediately after Sept. 11, Fitch Ratings of New York put instruments issued by Putnam Lovell and Constellation on credit watch negative because of the potential effect of further declines in the equity market (see MFMN, 9/28/01). By December 2001, Moody's Investors Service downgraded credit ratings of securitizations issued by Constellation and Citibank. By this past December, Fitch downgraded $246 million of 12b-1 securitizations from Putnam Lovell and Constellation. "Last year, the market was pretty dry for this asset class," said Lily Cheung, director at Standard & Poor's in New York. However, securitization may be on the rise, in part because of new hedging structures, Cheung added.