Personal favorite links from Toni Moss and Shirley Jackson:

Jack Guttentag, The Mortgage Professor. Guttentag is a living legend in global housing finance. If ever we had a hero - Jack tops our list - and we’ve never even met him in person! He is one of the key drivers behind the industry’s best training forums, the International Housing Finance Program at the Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania) and founder of mortgage technology innovator GHR Systems. Of all of the brilliance, bluster and ego that drives the global mortgage industry, who else with such massive and legitimate credibility would give power to the people (the consumers) through the free advice he personally gives on his simple website “The Mortgage Professor”. His advice is straight to the point and he exposes the tricks of the trade giving consumers the enormous benefit of an insider’s view of the industry. Check out his mortgage advice to see what we mean. If his simplistic website had more traction, he’d be dangerous. Even more, if US lenders could market their mortgage products with a “Guttentag seal of approval”, he’d really be rich…and the US mortgage industry would be better balanced between producers and consumers.

The Long Now Foundation provides an important counterpoint to today’s “faster, cheaper” culture of consumption and accelerated obsolescence. They creatively foster responsibility on a wider 10,000 year timescale with some of the most profound thinking happening in the world today. Its board members are people like Esther Dyson (the EuroCatalyst 2002 Intellectual Catalyst keynote), Brian Eno (musician, composer and producer of audio and visual landscapes), Peter Schwartz (cofounder and chairman of Global Business Network) and Stewart Brand among others, all of whom serve as endless sources of ideas and inspiration as EuroCatalyst tries to interpret and apply their monumental theories to the housing finance industry. You can download their monthly seminars about Long-term Thinking here.

O’Reilly Radar. We are referring to Tim O’Reilly, NOT you-know-who. The O’Reilly Radar is the foundation of thinking about Web 2.0, the next generation of the internet (also known as The Grid). It’s the new home of the digerati and technorati and you always want to know what they’re up to. Don’t you?

Milken Institute, an independent economic think tank founded by Michael Milken whose mission is to improve the lives and economic conditions of diverse populations in the US and around the world by helping business and public policy leaders identify and implement innovative ideas for creating broad-based prosperity. We’re all for it. They hold educational roundtables, forums, seminars and conferences and publish research findings and conference outcomes.

Open Society Institute and Soros Foundation Network were founded by none other than George Soros. with the purpose of building a global alliance for open society. There’s some very “heavy stuff” to contemplate when Soros writes, regardless of your own opinion he articulates ideas rarely contemplated and acts with conviction. He has an open invitation to participate in EuroCatalyst events any time, we admire him tremendously – if only we could get time in his schedule! (Toni cherishes a letter from him that she believes was signed personally so do not tell her otherwise!) In the meantime, we’ve been privileged to have Alan Boyce and Karin Lissakers attend and speak at EuroCatalyst, and enjoy spirited dialogues with Alan Boyce on global housing finance (and those of you who know him also know exactly what we mean when we say "spirited"). As a “background research” piece to the upcoming 5 year anniversary of the EuroCatalyst annual event in Madrid this October (EuroCatalyst 2007), we strongly recommend reading the recent Soros essay, "Europe as a Prototype for a Global Open Society". We will test you on it later.

Since 1971 the World Economic Forum has generated an ongoing dialogue and debate on the major social and economic problems around the world. Its supporters believe in the positive impact of the collaborative dialogue at the top of the global food chain, while critics claim it’s nothing more than a business forum where the richest negotiate deals more easily among the world’s most powerful politicians. Regardless, the dialogue is crucial. It is interesting to note that until 2001 the main decision-making boards and board of directors were 100% male! Since 2001 they have made concerted efforts to include the voices that represent the majority constituency of 52% of the world’s population (i.e. women) through their "Women Leaders Program". Apparently the participation of women now exceeds 14%. The costs of membership are high, but much of the research is either free or low-cost! For any firms looking to expand across borders, we highly recommend you read the forum’s flagship publication, the Global Competitiveness Report. For those so inclined, we also recommend their new Global Gender Gap Report 2006 which you can download download here. It’s a start. Not that we resemble that remark . . .

Trade organizations, industry associations and regulatory bodies in Europe

AUSTRIA

Verband Österreichischer Banken & Bankiers /Austrian Bankers' Association
http://www.voebb.at

BELGIUM

Belgian Bankers' Association / Belgische Vereniging van Banken / Association Belge des Banques
http://www.abb-bvb.be/gen/en/index.html

BULGARIA

Association of Commercial Banks
http://www.acb.bg/

CHANNEL ISLANDS

Jersey Financial Services Commission
http://www.jerseyfsc.org

CZECH REPUBLIC

Asociace pro elektronickou komerci (APEK) / Association for Electronic Commerce
http://www.apek.cz/

Ceska Bankovni Asociace / Association of Banks
http://www.czech-ba.cz/

DENMARK

Realkreditrådet / Association of Danish Mortgage Banks
http://www.realkreditraadet.dk/

Finansrådet / Danish Bankers Association
http://www.finansraadet.dk

Danish Financial Supervisory Authority / Finanstilsynet
http://www.ftnet.dk/

EUROPE

Banking Federation of the European Union
http://www.fbe.be/

Confédération européenne des Administrateurs de Biens (CEAB) / European confederation of property managers
http://www.cepi.be/includes/EN/info_cepi-en-ALL.asp

Conseil Européen des Professions Immobilières / European Real Estate Council
http://www.cepi.be/

European Association of Co-operative Banks
http://www.eurocoopbanks.coop/

European Central Bank
http://www.ecb.int/

European Committee for Banking Standards
http://www.ecbs.org

European Financial Management Association
http://www.efma.com

European Financial Services Round Table
http://www.efr.be/

The European Group of Valuers' Association
http://www.tegova.org

European Housing Forum
http://www.union-hlm.org/

European Mortgage Federation
http://www.hypo.org

European Property Federation
http://www.epf-fepi.com/

European Public Real Estate Association
http://www.epra.com

European Real Estate Society
http://www.eres.org/

European Savings Banks Group
http://www.esbg.eu/

European Securitisation Forum
http://www.europeansecuritisation.com/

EFAMA / The European Funds and Asset Management Association
http://www.efama.org

Permanent Committee on Cadastre in the European Union
http://www.eurocadastre.org

FINLAND

Suomen Pankkiyhdistys / Finnish Bankers' Association
http://www.pankkiyhdistys.fi

FRANCE

Association Française des Banques / French Bankers Association
http://www.afb.fr/

GERMANY

Verband deutscher Pfandbriefbanken / Association of German Pfandbrief Banks
In German: http://www.hypverband.de
In English: http://www.pfandbrief.org/

Bundesverband deutscher Banken / Association of German banks
In German: http://www.bdb.de
In English: http://www.german-banks.com/

Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht / Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin)
http://www.bafin.de/cgi-bin/bafin.pl

GREECE

Hellenic Bankers Association
http://www.hba.gr/English/index_en.htm

HUNGARY

Hungarian Financial Supervisory Authority
http://www.pszaf.hu

ICELAND

Bankers' & Securities Dealers' Association
http://www.sbv.is/

INTERNATIONAL

International Union for Housing Finance
http://www.housingfinance.org/index.php

UNECE Working Party on Land Administration
http://www.unece.org/env/hs/wpla/welcome.html

IRELAND

Institute of Bankers in Ireland
http://www.instbankers.com/

Irish Bankers' Federations
http://www.ibis.ie/

Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority
http://www.ifsra.ie/

ITALY

Associazione Bancaria Italiana
http://www.abi.it/

Associazione Italiana del Credito al Consumo e Immobiliare / ASSOFIN (Italian Association for Consumer Credit and Mortgages)
http://www.assofin.it

Associazione Nazionale Banche Private / ASSBANK
http://www.assbank.it/

LITHUANIA

CENTRINĖ HIPOTEKOS ĮSTAIGA / Central Mortgage Office
http://www.lhr.lt/

LUXEMBOURG

Luxembourg Bankers' Association
http://www.abbl.lu/

MALTA

Institute of Financial Services - Malta
http://www.ifsmalta.org/

Malta Financial Services Authority
http://www.mfsa.com.mt

NETHERLANDS

Nationale Hypotheek Garantie / National Mortgage Guarantee
http://www.nhg.nl/

Netherlands Bankers' Association / Nederlandse Vereniging van Banken (NVB)
http://www.nvb.nl

Foreign Bankers' Association in the Netherlands
http://www.foreignbankers.nl/

NORWAY

Norwegian Financial Services Association / Finansnæringens Hovedorganisasjon
http://www.fnh.no

POLAND

Mortgage Credit Foundation / Fundacja na Rzecz Kredytu Hipotecznego
http://www.fukrehip.pl/

PORTUGAL

CMVM / Portuguese Securities Market Commission
http://www.cmvm.pt/

Instituto de Seguros de Portugal / Portuguese Insurance Institute
http://www.isp.pt/

Associação Portuguesa de Seguradores
http://www.apseguradores.pt/

SPAIN

Asociación Hipotecaria Española / Spanish Mortgage Association
http://www.ahe.es

ASSET: Asociación Española de Financieros, Tesoreros de Empresa / Spanish Association of Corporate Financiers and Treasurers
http://www.asset.es

Confederación Española de Cajas de Ahorros
http://www.ceca.es/

SWEDEN

Finansinspektionen / Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority
http://www.fi.se/

Svenska Bankföreningen / Swedish Bankers' Association
http://www.bankforeningen.se

Svenska Fondhandlare Föreningen / Swedish Securities Dealers Association
http://www.fondhandlarna.se/indexeng.html

SWITZERLAND

Swissbanking - Swiss Bankers Association
http://www.swissbanking.org/

UNITED KINGDOM

Building Societies Association
http://www.bsa.org.uk/

Council of Mortgage Lenders
http://www.cml.org.uk/