Fewer of these mortgages are being issued, particularly among highly indebted households. However, we have become increasingly concerned about low-ratio mortgages—those where the down payment is more than 20 per cent of the value of the home. We are continuing to see an increase in new low-ratio mortgages that have riskier characteristics.
We should take advantage of the harmonisation and integration already achieved with SEPA and use SEPA as a blueprint for instant payment solutions. As I said, instant payments are the “hot” topic in the retail payments industry. Yet they will be largely invisible to end users.