In all, the New York Fed has settled approximately $12.3 billionin loan requests for legacy CMBS since the securities were added tothe TALF program last June, according to data from the bank. TheMarch tally of settled requests was the second lowest since theprogram began, and also marked the widest monthly gap by far—$402million—between requested and settled amounts. By contrast, thegaps between requests and settlements for the January and Februaryrounds were slightly more than $120 million per month.

On its website, the New York Fed notes that it reserves theright to reject loan requests. The securities that were rejectedfell short of either "the explicit requirements specified forlegacy CMBS in the TALF program terms and conditions" or Fed's riskassessment of the legacy CMBS, "including an assessment of whetherthe stress value of the legacy CMBS exceeded the requested loanamount," according to the bank.

To date, the TALF program has produced only one request for newCMBS, a $72-million transaction in the November 2009 round. TheMarch round drew no takers. However, that lone issuance did serve apurpose, according to the Commercial Real Estate FinanceCouncil.