Net global securitization volume fell 79% last year, to $441 billion, and there is little indication that a recovery took place in the first quarter, the trade group International Financial Services London said Tuesday.
The figure does not include bonds that were retained by banks for use in central bank liquidity facilities.
This year "got off to a very slow start, and a revival in the remainder of 2009 is dependent on both a recovery of investor confidence and stabilization of financial markets," said Duncan McKenzie, the director of economics at the U.K. trade group.
Investor appetite for such bonds was severely damaged by the 2007 collapse of the U.S. subprime mortgage market.
The trade group said market participants were hoping the Federal Reserve Board's Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility would help kick-start the securitization market.
The program, which became operational March 25, is initially providing up to $200 billion to eligible investors to buy certain triple-A securities backed by recently originated auto, card, student and small-business loans.
The launch produced an immediate revival in the U.S. primary market, as Talf-eligible deals backed by card and auto loans were issued.
However, there is no equivalent program so far to support the European market.
"The contrast serves to highlight the dependence of ABS market revival on government action, which has so far been missing in Europe," with the exception of the U.K. government's plan to guarantee triple-A mortgage-backed bonds, a team of Deutsche Bank AG analysts wrote in a research note.
