I am very pleased that so many dedicated real estate experts from a variety of FSB member countries and institutions, from standard setting bodies and from the private sector participate today. I am sure that the gathered expertise will lead to fruitful discussions and provide for interesting insights. Let me now start this session by sharing my views on global commercial real estate financing.
I will touch on two issues in the following minutes: first its relevance for banks and other participants in the financial markets and second its implications for financial stability. One of the reasons for the financial crisis was the US sub-prime crisis caused by lax lending practices and overheating residential real estate markets.