Citi's SIVs buy some time

LONDON (CNNMoney.com) -- Citigroup Inc. has secured funding through the end of the year for the $80 billion in structured investment vehicles it manages, according to a published report.

The bank managed to secure the funding after selling $20 billion of assets since the credit crunch hit in the summer, the Wall Street Journal said.

That means Citigroup's (Charts, Fortune 500) SIVs won't be forced to sell its assets at fire-sale prices, bank executives told the newspaper.

The news comes just days after a group made up of Citi, Bank of America Corp. (Charts, Fortune 500) and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (Charts, Fortune 500) announced they were setting up a "super fund" to buy assets from SIVs.

The fund, estimated at $75 billion to $100 billion, is intended to ease some of the pressure on SIVs, and the banks that have agreed to back them.

But analysts have been skeptical about how the plan will work and how much support it has. Few additional details of the plan have emerged since it first was announced Monday.