Notes and updates
The Casebook.
Watson AM's working notes on European property lending: how the security behind a loan actually works, what regulation such as Basel III changes for borrowers, and the anatomy of funded deals from the firm's own book, filed across the eleven markets we lend in.
Entries
The Schuldbrief: the instrument a Swiss mortgage travels in.
Swiss real-estate security lives in a certificate that carries both the claim and the lien. How a mortgage certificate is created under art. 842, its paper and register forms, and why lenders hold title to it.
Filed July 2026
ExplainerInside the 58 days between first contact and funds released.
Watson AM's average time to funding is 58 days, with indicative terms inside 72 hours. What the nine diligence steps spend that calendar on, and why prepared files run faster than the average.
Filed July 2026
ExplainerEvery secured loan is underwritten from its exit.
An exit strategy is the identified source of repayment: sale, refinancing, or cash flow. Why tenor follows the exit, and what Europe's EUR 86bn refinancing gap taught lenders about testing it.
Filed July 2026
ExplainerLoan-to-value measures the distance between a loan and a loss.
A 60% LTV leaves four tenths of the property's value between the lender and a fall in price. How the ratio is built, why the valuation is its soft half, and how a book running from 25% to 80% reads in practice.
Filed July 2026
ExplainerWhen a loan stops performing, the case moves to the enforcement office.
Swiss law channels a defaulted secured loan into supervised realisation, normally a public auction, with proceeds paid out in register order. The route, the rules against self-help, and what decides recovery.
Filed July 2026
ExplainerA promise made with a bank's own balance sheet.
A bank guarantee pays on a compliant call, independent of the loan behind it. What the instrument adds above a mortgage and a personal guarantee, and why its wording decides what it is worth.
Filed July 2026
ExplainerFirst rank: the two words that decide who is paid first.
A first-rank mortgage puts the lender first in the queue when a property's value is turned into money. How rank works in the land register, what it protects against, and why it's read together with loan-to-value.
Filed July 2026
ExplainerThe personal guarantee: what a signature adds to a registered mortgage.
The mortgage secures the asset; the guarantee reaches the person behind the borrower. Why secured lenders take both, what makes a guarantee enforceable, and where it fails.
Filed July 2026
ExplainerWhat a conditions precedent list actually contains.
A conditions precedent list is what a borrower must satisfy before a lender releases funds: clean title, registered security, signed guarantees, insurance in force. What sits on it, and where it fails.
Filed July 2026
Case fileAnatomy of a 20-year property refinancing in Denmark.
A maturing property loan in Greater Copenhagen needed a twenty-year horizon rather than another bridge. How the refinancing was structured and secured against a first-rank mortgage.
Filed July 2026
Market noteApproved but not built. Europe's stalled housing pipeline.
Germany ended 2025 with 760'700 approved homes still unbuilt. As permits hold and completions fall to a thirteen-year low, the binding constraint on European housing has shifted from planning to funding.
Filed June 2026
Market noteWhat the new Basel III rules mean for European property borrowers.
The final phase of Basel III is now law across Europe. Tougher capital rules raise the cost of a bank loan secured against property, and push the complex, mid-market deals a developer needs towards lenders that don't carry the same charge.
Filed June 2026
Market noteWhat the UBS and Credit Suisse merger changed for European property lending.
Three years on, the rescue of Credit Suisse has left Europe one fewer large balance sheet. Tighter capital rules from 2027 push complex, mid-market property deals towards non-bank and private credit lenders.
Filed June 2026
Market noteRates just turned. What that does to a developer's window.
The ECB lifted rates for the first time since 2023 and the SNB held at 0%. When the path turns, a slow lender stops being an inconvenience and becomes a cost. Why certainty of close matters more than a headline rate.
Filed June 2026
Case open
The first entries are being filed.
The Casebook gathers market commentary, regulatory reading, and updates from the firm, filed as they're written. The first entries are on the way. In the meantime, the quarterly letter carries a market view, one new case file, and notes from the jurisdictions we work in.