ABSTRACT
Th e rapid growth of securitization markets coupled with the investors’ indiscriminate willingness to acquire complex and nontransparent assets has been one of the most important triggers of the ongoing fi nancial crisis. Securitization markets have been also the source of infection for the
European banking system. In an eff ort to add a European perspective to this edited volume, we, therefore, discuss how the European securitization business became increasingly linked to the U.S. subprime market and how structural market fl aws made European institutions particularly susceptible to the crisis. Aft er developing a comprehensive understanding of the unique features of the “European” banking crisis, we turn to a discussion of potential regulatory responses in order to shield securitization markets from similar events in the future.
