Sec.-Gen. of European Mortgage Federation urges banks to reconsider their role in urban development

The banking sector must rethink its role in urban transformation, Luca Bertalot, secretary general of the European Mortgage Federation and the European Covered Bond Council (ECBC), said at a panel session as part of the 13th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) in Baku, Report informs.

He estimates that the world is on the threshold of a new urban revolution, with cities already accounting for 80% of Europe's gross domestic product.

"We need to plan and design for a new demographic revolution," Bertalot noted, noting that artificial intelligence provides banks with fundamentally new tools. The expert believes that banking institutions must integrate into a new ecosystem built around five priority areas for financing urban transformation.

"Housing holds a key position among them: in European countries, two-thirds of bank balances are formed by mortgage loans. Transforming the approach to housing finance will inevitably lead to changes in the entire range of credit products – from loans for building modernization to infrastructure lending," he added.