Striking out Fannie Mae

Published: 05 January, 2004

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Geraldine Lambe reports on the storm that is raging over proposals to introduce US-style government-sponsored agencies in Europe to aid the integration of the mortgage-backed securities market.

European financial markets are usually chastised for taking the interventionist rather than the market route. Europe’s bureaucracy-heavy approach is blamed for slower growth and lower production levels compared with the leaner, meaner US financial machine. But in the case of a proposal from the European Mortgage Finance Agency project group (EMFA) to create a pan-European institution, sponsored by the EU, red-tape wielding Eurocrats cannot be held responsible.