THE LONDON DECLARATION – Signatories from 20 countries present at our ECRC London Responsible Credit Conference last week give their support to the London Declaration! Below is the "London Declaration in English. We have asked partners to translate it in their national language: It is already available in German, French, Croatian and Romanian... THE ‘LONDON DECLARATION’ ON THE GLOBAL CREDIT CRISIS 13th November 2008 We, the European Coalition for Responsible Credit, with the support of our partners around the globe, call on our governments, financial regulators, and central banks, to take immediate action to support households in financial problems and to work with us and other consumer agencies, academics, and the labour movement to establish a new framework for the governance of credit markets at the international, European, and national levels. The current crisis is a product of the long term neglect of consumer interests in the credit markets and inadequate regulation of the financial services industry. Over the past twenty years we have witnessed the continued weakening of consumer protections in the name of supporting free and efficient markets. The failure of this approach in the credit market is now self evident. This is not a crisis borne from providing access to credit to low income groups, but one caused by providing them only with irresponsible credit products and failing to protect their long term interests in the market. WE CALL ON ALL GOVERNMENTS ACROSS EUROPE TO : 1. IMPROVE HELP AVAILABLE TO HOUSEHOLDS IN MORTGAGE ARREARS, by a. Establishing, with the financial services industry, a ‘mortgage rescue fund’ for households which can be used to help borrowers reschedule mortgages at affordable rates of interest over the next five to ten years b. Providing courts with the power to halt the repossession of homes and to reschedule mortgages by accessing the ‘mortgage rescue fund’ 2. ENHANCE COURT PROTECTION FOR BORROWERS WITH UNSECURED DEBTS, by a. Providing for borrowers to obtain, on their own application, a temporary moratorium on recovery action for up to one year, subject to judicial discretion b. Preventing unsecured lenders from obtaining legal charges on homes 3. ENSURE ADEQUATE PROVISION OF DEBT ADVICE SERVICES, by developing and implementing, with the active involvement of consumer agencies, a national debt advice plan. The plan should be developed following the commissioning of independent research into the demand for, and supply of, debt advice provision and current funding levels for advice services. 4. INCLUDE A DUTY IN BANK AND CREDIT LICENSES OBLIGING LENDERS TO ENSURE PEOPLE ON LOWER INCOMES HAVE ACCESS TO RESPONSIBLE CREDIT PRODUCTS, and which requires lenders to report in a standardised and public way on their performance in meeting this obligation 5. IMPROVE GOVERNANCE OF CREDIT MARKETS BY ACTIVELY INVOLVING CONSUMERS a. Ensure that consumer agencies are represented on key policy making and supervisory bodies at the global, European, and national levels b. Provide financial support to enable consumer agencies to participate in an ongoing dialogue with regulators and the financial services industry at the global, European, and national levels 6. DEVELOP A QUASI BANKRUPTCY PROCEDURE FOR BANKS which instead of just applying the principle of "too big to fail" provides the intervening State with the right to replace management, to adjust claims and to protect public interest in failing financial institutions without harming the well-functioning of the bank's systems with regard to the markets. Public guarantees and subsidies to banks should be given only with the obligation to act responsibly with consumers and to return the money after it is no longer necessary to keep the bank from failure. SIGNED on the 13th November 2008: By Professor Udo Reifner (Chair, European Coalition for Responsible Credit), Damon Gibbons (Chair, Debt on our Doorstep), and over 50 other members/partners/supporters of the ECRC See link to ECRC Web Page dedicated to the London Declaration. ID: 42074 Author(s): ECRC Publication date: 20/11/08     The "London Declaration" (November 2008, in English, pdf) (168495 Bytes) ECRC London Declaration, Nov08 (in German) (118061 Bytes) ECRC London Declaration, Nov08 (in Croatian) (186754 Bytes) ECRC London Declaration, Nov08 (in Romanian) (79726 Bytes) Inclusion Report: Responding to the Mortgage Crisis (Gibbons, Nov08) (206913 Bytes) URL(s): Link to: The ‘London Declaration’ on the Global Credit Crisis Link to Existing ECRC Principles for Responsible Credit

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