Investors saw a revival of significant risk transfer (SRT) secondary market auctions this past week, characterised by high asking prices and few completed trades.

In the famously private market, each participant only sees a sliver of the overall picture, and this is especially true in the secondary market.

Investors and other participants say the auctions could be a reaction to margin calls — directly or indirectly, to source pricing or to try and liquidate high quality assets.

These auctions come just as the Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) issued a warning to repo financing banks about the secondary market liquidity of SRTs.

SRT assets themselves are not generally marked to market, but recent volatility has had spillover effects, paving the way for widening spreads and potential drops in valuation.