These include measures last year that were aimed at high-ratio mortgages—those where the down payment is less than 20 per cent of the value of the home.
Such changes were also supported by increasing levels of excess liquidity, low interest rates in the global financial market and the increased demand for variations in financial instruments, given different consumers' risk profiles. Consequently, there was a further blurring of financial intermediation roles between the traditional banks and non-bank market players. Risk-shifting and risk transfer eventually forced the collapse we are witnessing today.