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.

Crèdit Andorrà CEO Josep Peralba I Duro

Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich CEO Dr. Walther Rothensteiner

Bank of Cyprus Group General Manager Finance Yiannis Kypri

OP Bank Group Chairman & CEO Antti Tanskanen

Piraeus Bank Chairman Michalis G. Sallas

Íslandsbanki CEO Bjarni Armannsson

Banque Générale du Luxembourg Chairman of the Management Board Jean Meyer