This is not tales from the crypt. 

RBS (aka Royal  Bank of Scotland) is planning a £4.7 billion ($7.2 billion) offering of MBS's (aka mortgage-backed securities).  And this from a bank that has been effectively nationalized by the U.K.  Regardless, the deal would be tremendous for a sector so deeply implicated in the financial collapse.

    As reported by NYT Dealbook.   The securities issue, part of the bank’s diversified funds and balance sheet management program, will allow the bank to distribute the risk attached to real estate loans on its books and represents an additional source of income for a lender that only just swung back to profit in the first half of this year.  RBS, which was blindsided by the financial meltdown 2 years ago as it undertook the costly takeover of ABN Amro, was eventually forced to put £325 billion in debt, commercial real estate loans and other investments into a government-backed unit.

    Plans for the U.S.  The bank, which operates in the U.S. as well, is planning to issue the shares under Reg. 144S - meaning they'll not be registered with the SEC, and cannot be marketed, sold to or held by U.S. investors. 

The recovery of MBS's could portend a greater shift for European banks which, like their counterparts in the U.S., saw the MBS business come to a screeching halt when declines in the value of loan portfolios made the subprime market collapse, ultimately driving Bear Stearns into the arms of JPMorgan Chase, and Lehman Brothers into bankruptcy.  If the market proves receptive to the issue, it will mean not just more fees for the bank but more credit flowing into the British economy, which came to depend upon such debt prior to the crisis.   [NYT Dealbook, 9/14].