chancellor sets up a mortgage finance talking shop

I found this on the HM Treasury website:

Chancellor launches Mortgage Finance Working Group

Sir James Crosby will lead a group of mortgage industry experts, providing advice to the Government on options for improving the function of mortgage finance markets, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling announced today. The Working Group will draw on the experience and expertise of lenders, investors and the Tripartite Authorities (the Treasury; the Bank of England; and the Financial Services Authority.

The most striking aspect of this working group is its composition. It is a bunch of industry insiders. These are the same people who were running the show when the housing bubble took off. There were also in charge when the mortgage market collapsed. These were also the people who allowed personal debt grow to a level that now threatens to take down the entire financial system.

So what exactly will these jokers be working on? The Working Group "will consider options for improving the mortgage-backed securities market, including measures aimed at broadening the investor base for mortgage-backed securities and improving the robustness of the market."

Notice that there is no mention of improving housing affordability or protecting people from predatory lending practices. Nor wil the working group consider ways of strengthening financial sector supervision. It is all about what mortgage insiders need, and what these people need right now is a return to the happy days of booming house prices, double digit credit growth and fat origination fees.

The Chancellor can appoint working groups every day for a month. Nothing can save the housing market, or the mortgage industry from the day of reckoning. The crash is on, Mr. Darling, and it will sweep you and the rest of your sorry mates away.