Mr. Michael Bennett:

On the prevalence and the take-up of mortgage insurance, many lenders are comfortable with the risk they have and may not always seek that cover. That gives rise to concentration of risk within, say, the domestic banking sector. That is why we advocate mortgage insurance as a good tool to mitigate that risk. In terms of encouraging take-up, the rules in respect of Basel II and III have changed and, as mentioned earlier, the capital a lender is required to hold in respect of a high LTV loan has increased through these changes.

Provided the lenders can get that benefit and the regulators make clear guidance available, which they can do under the EU capital requirements regulations framework, we will see greater take-up of mortgage insurance within Europe.