Ask anyone in the European financial markets to name the most exciting sectors to be in this year and commercial mortgage-backed securities are likely to be high on the list. Arcane they may be but CMBS growth has been breathtaking over the past few years, further rapid expansion is expected in 2006 and Europe's investment banks are boosting their teams to keep up with the demand for them.

Commercial mortgage-backed securities are debt instruments secured by commercial property such as offices, shops, factories and warehouses, as well as blocks of flats and sometimes hotels. They have their origins in the failure of the savings and loans associations in the US in the 1980s, when Resolution Trust Corporation took over the associations' assets.