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The main purpose of this paper is to reflect on the impact of the financial crisis of 2007 on commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS) and to consider how market confidence in this form of financing can be re‐established.

The paper uses a two‐stage approach involving a questionnaire and structured interviews. The questionnaire was distributed to market participants in Europe with the goal of identifying their views on the future of CMBS. Structured interviews were held with the three largest credit rating agencies again with the purpose to illicit their opinions on steps necessary to create the confidence in this innovative financing tool.

The empirical results show that market revival will depend on a simplification of deal structures and transparency by all market players. It is clear that regulation of the CMBS instrument is not a top priority for the main market players, but rather, better and more open risk assessment, greater disclosure of information and more due diligence on behalf of investors are seen as crucial.

The paper finds that there are several pragmatic changes that have to be introduced into the way CMBS are designed if they are to be, once again, significant tools for the securitising loans underlying real estate assets.

As well as the practical applications of this analysis it makes an academic contribution in relation to the perceptions of the main market players in creating the environment for a resurgence of CMBS.