A bankruptcy-remote entity used by banks or bank holding companies to issue securities for special purposes related to certain secondary-market credit activities involving off-balance-sheet transactions. (Federal Reserve-Trading and Capital-Markets Activities Manual) The employees of an investment banking firm or some other third-party generally own the equity of the SPE. The advising bank can specifically avoid owning the stock if it does not want to raise the issue of whether it must consolidate the SPE for accounting purposes. (Federal Reserve-Bank Holding Company Supervision Manual)