BIS Review 11/2009  3  Also fuelling the credit growth through the period was a shift of the major US and European banks away from the traditional “originate to hold” banking model towards an “originate to distribute” model, which for a range of reasons was seen as more profitable.
In “originate to hold”, mortgage and other credit originations typically stay on the originating bank’s balance sheet until maturity. In “originate to distribute”, the credit originations are securitised and sold, removing them from the originating bank’s balance sheet.