In einem kürzlich in der italienischen Zeitung „Il Sole 24 Ore“ gegebenen Interview geht Yves Mersch, in der EZB für das Thema Banking Union verantwortlich, auf die Bedeutung des Verbriefungsmarktes und die Verbriefungsregulierung ein. Die Regulierung trage nicht den europäischen Erfahrungen Rechnung. Die anstehende Regulierung sei – so führt er aus – als würde man eine Hochwasserversicherung für Madrid aufgrund der Erfahrungen in New Orleans kalibrieren.
„….. How come SMEs suffer more than large firms? They are more dependent on banks, which in many countries are deleveraging. The price of credit should mirror real risk: in some countries the productivity of firms is half of that in others, so the prospects are less brilliant. It’s normal that the price of credit is higher for riskier business. It’s a very complex undertaking. We are ready to act, but only in our field of competence and maybe in collaboration with other institutions which have responsibility where we lack it, like development banks. We can examine if there are bottlenecks in the use of financial assets in collateralization to get refinancing from us. For instance, Italy used to have an important market for ABS. This has shrunk, but is recovering again. Is it related to the situation of SMEs or to regulatory considerations? The capital you have to set aside for ABS will increase 5 times compared to other asset classes.
These are the examinations we have to undertake: how do we restart the securitisation process in European context, where we see that European ABS are performing far better than the regulatory requirements expect? They are perceived as too risky due to the US experience in the subprime mortgage markets. This regulation is like calibrating the price of flood insurance on the experience of New Orleans for a city like Madrid. We’ll leave not a stone unturned, but I am sceptical that we will find another silver bullet after the OMT. And it would not be without risk to say: let’s take the risk form private balance sheets and put it on the balance sheet of the central bank “