According to Wragge and Co, at the time when tightening of prudential ratios and the imminent maturity of the debt wall to be refinanced, banks are reducing the size of their balance sheets, and certain insurance companies are considering the possibility of purchasing mortgage loans directly.

The situation appears to be a paradox. France is just coming out of a crisis but real estate prices have sharply increased during the previous months and have only slightly decreased at the height of the crisis. How can this phenomenon be explained?

The real estate bubble was huge and now Spanish banks are in a mess. Two questions come to mind: why does this comes into the spotlight so late ? what is the exact size of the mess and what is the possible impact of a full stress scenario on financial markets ?

Much has been said and written about ‘Foreclosure-gate' – a scandal hitting the US mortgage market. While some of the information accurately assesses the topic, much of what has been written has been naïve, uninformed or just plain wrong...