Brussels, 28/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - During the annual conference of the European Mortgage Foundation last week, the European Commissioner for the internal market, Charlie McCreevy confirmed that the Commission would adopt the white paper on mortgage credit “May of next year”. Adoption of the white paper was initially planned for the end of 2006 (EUROPE 9087). The Commission alluded to ongoing work at the expert groups, one on financing mortgage credit and the other setting up dialogue between lenders and consumers (EUROPE 9221 and 9194).
The Commissioner said that integration of the mortgage credit market would be more determined by supply than demand. He acknowledged that, “I fully agree with those who say that consumers will not, all of a sudden, speak all languages, cross the border, compare rates between five firms in three countries etc…Let's be serious. This mobile mortgage consumer is, today and probably tomorrow, a myth”. It is therefore pertinent to get rid of the barriers that limit supply of products from foreign companies set up locally in another Member State, agents for European firms or provision made on a cross border basis.
Charlie McCreevy wanted lenders to be “free to choose the most appropriate funding strategy for their mortgage business”. He referred to certain obstacles to this freedom of choice existing in many Member States, such as “limitations of the instruments that may serve as collateral for the issuance of covered bonds”. The Commission hopes to be able to publish the final report from the specific experts group on its internet site in December, which contains draft measures for the market initiative. McCreevy said that he was determined to lower national differences in terms of rules on consumer protection, reliable data access on credit and real estate evaluation. (mb)