Part of the tightening in mortgage credit standards is the result of lender fears about the economy and the trajectory of house prices. Of respondents who reported tightening mortgage lending standards in the April 2012 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices, more than 80 percent identified concerns about the economy or house prices as a factor in their decision.
Hopefully this will instil greater confidence amongst the users of such systems, in addition to ensuring that the systems are robust and well designed, based on sound principles of optimal risk management. We also believe they provide for high levels of reliability of operations and are in compliance with international requirements for combating money laundering.