This is a one-day regional workshop for key participants in housing finance and housing finance policy. A group of countries with relatively advanced systems of housing finance—the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Russia, and Slovakia—will share their experiences with participants also from the less advanced, southern tier and other NIS countries. The conference will seek to agree on how to move housing finance forward to the nest stage and what valuable lessons learned can be offered by the speaker countries to the others. The issues raised by EU trends and regulations will also be addressed, as well developing a lasting professional network of housing finance practitioners and experts throughout the region.

The process of building housing finance in many CEE countries has benefited less from the experiences of their neighbors than is desirable. Rather, the policy and lender professionals have looked to Western countries and donors for information and models.

Now that most of the building blocks are in place, there appears to be a great amount of interest in learning about developments in the other countries, comparing problems and sharing solutions. Realistically, the remaining challenges share far more in common across these countries than with Western Europe. At the same time, USAID is very interested in distilling what region-wide perspectives and experiences may be useful for those countries with further to go with respect to developing housing finance.

Thus, the purpose of the Conference is to bring together members of the housing finance community from the countries noted above, and also from countries such as Bulgaria, Romania, Armenia, Khazakhstan, and elsewhere in CEE and NIS who are well informed about the experiences in their country and are in a position to learn from their fellow participants. The goals are (1) to yield insights that can be used to advance the development of housing finance in each participant country and (2) to encourage continuing communication within the region in this regard.

Participants will be from key financial institutions in each country or in key positions in policy making. However, all non-Polish participants will also have to be conversant in English, in order to encourage more rapid and informal conversation during and subsequent to the Conference. There will be time in each session for extended exchanges of views.

8:30-9:00 Welcomes by USAID and Polish Banks Association
Michael Lee: USAID Poland
Krzysztof Pietraszkiewicz: Polish Banks Association
Viviann Gary: USAID Washington

9:00-9:30 Introduction: Regional Trends in Housing Finance
A review of policies and trends across the region, with an emphasis on what seem to be the larger issues on the horizon and the potential for learning from each other. The issues raised will form the topics of the sessions during the day and thus there will not be questions after this session.
Douglas Diamond, Housing Finance Consultant, The Urban Institute Consortium (UIC) and Conference Moderator

9:30-10:20 Competitive Pressures in Mortgage Markets
The invisible hand of competition can cause rapid advancement in housing finance, including innovation in mortgage design, changes in underwriting standards, and narrowing in gross margins. Poland and the Czech Republic seem to display the most competition. Why and what have been the impacts?

(1) Lech Gajewski: Poland, Bank Slaski/ING
(2) Frantisek Pavelka: the Czech Republic, Czecho-Moravian Mortgage Bank
Chair: Michael Lea: Housing Finance Consultant, UIC

10:20-10:40 Coffee Break

10:40-11:40 The Impact of Subsidies on Mortgage Markets
Subsidies can greatly affect the use of market-rate finance, both positively (interest rate reductions) and negatively (low-rate state or employer loans, Bausparkassen, lump-sum subsidies)? Such impacts are significant in Hungary and Slovakia and a participant from each will talk briefly about the situation there and the political and market dynamics.

(1) Jozsef Hegedus: MRI, Hungary
(2) Jarmila Jurkovicova, Slovakia, Director, Department of Credits for Individuals, Slovak Savings Bank
Chair: W.J. Brzeski, Poland, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister

11:40-12:30 Is Capital Market Funding Needed?
There has been much talk about mortgage bonds and securitization. A participant from Hungary will speak on the experience with respect to the choice between deposits and bond funding. A participant from Russia will speak on the difficulties of getting banks on the one side and investors on the other to be interested in a secondary market.

(1) Jozsef Csomos: Hungary, Land and Mortgage Bank
(2) Nadezhda Kosareva: Russia, Institute for Urban Economics
Chair: Raymond Struyk, The Urban Institute, Budapest

12:30-1:30 Lunch

1:30-2:15 The Role of Bausparkassen
Slovakia is experiencing the first large scale lending under a maturing Bauspar system. Based on that, what can be said about the impact of Bausparkassen systems, either German or Polish-style, on the development of market-rate finance? Will it replace it or supplement it? What are their impacts as housing subsidies?

(1) Herbert Pfeiffer: Slovakia, First Construction Savings Bank
(1) W.J. Brzeski, Poland, Poland's Experience in Shaping its Own Contract Savings System
Chair: Douglas Diamond

2:15 - 2:35 The Impact of the EU on Housing Finance among EU Members and on the Transition Countries

Judith Hardt, Director, European Mortgage Federation

2:35 - 2:45 Coffee

2:45 - 4:30 Closing Session: Dr. Diamond and the Audience

a. Future Visions for Development of Housing Finance and Next Steps
b. Lessons Learned for Countries Now Developing New Systems

Mr. Diamond will lead the audience in talking about two topics:
(1) the challenges facing lenders in the countries with already developed housing finance systems, and
(2) the lessons learned for those countries now beginning the process

Laszlo Borbely: Romania, State Secretary, Ministry of Public Works and Territorial Planning

Discussion will be organized by issue, not country. Additional participants from other CEE and NIS countries will be asked to formally participate

Poland Housing Finance Program
c/o The Urban Institute
2100 M Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037