A CDO is a financial product structured by banks that pool and package cash-generating assets into financial securities. These are then sold to investors. For example, a mortgage-backed security is a CDO. Mortgages are the collateral.

Synthetic CDO (Synthetic Collateralized Debt Obligation). These non-cash assets primarily consist of financial derivatives, such as credit default swaps (CDS), options, and various contractual agreements.

Key Takeaways. A collateralized loan obligation (CLO) is a single security backed by a pool of debt. CLOs are often corporate loans with low credit ratings or loans taken out by private equity firms to conduct leveraged buyouts.

A collateralized debt obligation (CDO) is a complex structured finance product that is backed by a pool of loans and other assets and sold to institutional investors. A CDO is a particular type of derivative because, as its name implies, its value is derived from another underlying asset.