European leaders reached an agreement in principle that would mean banks holding Greek debt would have to accept a 50 per cent writedown, an £880 billion reinforcement of the European Financial Stability Fund, and that banks would have to raise more capital to safeguard them against any government defaults that might occur in the future.
With this agreement likely to go through at the time of writing combined with the threat of the debt crisis in Italy, there could be interesting times ahead for the EU and the Eurozone.
This could also have a big impact on the big banks with investment and retail arms.
Already cautious, they may need to tighten their criteria even further to enable them to comply with these new European requirements, and are less likely to be able to fund niche lending for those without independent money to lend.
The potential restriction of investment in niche lenders could see negative effects for some specialist lenders.
Those lenders that haven't secured their funding for the next few years may well find it extremely difficult to raise funding and could potentially lose their current funding.
Those lenders who have secure funding in place, but are looking to raise additional funds, may well find the funding markets are closed or highly restrictive. So as the Eurozone crisis potentially deepens, the specialist loans and mortgage markets could stagnate or reduce.
However, this could provide a real opportunity for niche lenders with secured funds as demand increases.
For these lenders and their brokers the market may well broaden, ranging from those customers with affected credit ratings to those who only months ago might have been able to secure a traditional mortgage or secured loan without a great deal of difficulty.
Specialist lenders and brokers need to be prepared for a potential influx of new customers and adapt their plans and service that will be the most appropriate to suit their needs.
Brokers also need to raise awareness of the alternatives so that borrowers recognise the range of options open to them outside the high-street banks.
It is vital that both brokers and lenders continue to communicate to the market to reassure them that cautiousness among the major banks is not the end of the line for them.
The industry has been working hard to spread the word, but now is the time to show the possibilities to the wider market.
