For many, securitisation has been seen as a useful addition to the banking toolbox. A means to help European banks manage their capital and maybe boost their profitability. A way to make European banks competitive with their transatlantic brethren. But in the increasingly unforgiving geopolitical environment in which Europe, and the world, finds itself, facing immense challenges such as the climate crisis and the visible ebbing support for globalisation and free trade, we will seek to explain how securitisation is no longer a “nice to have” niche product but a categorical imperative for Europeans if we are to have a decent chance at facing up to the challenges before us. This, we will do with facts, figures and a line of reasoning that goes straight, but not necessarily straightforwardly, from the needs to increase both bank lending and capital markets, the twin channels of European finance to a revitalised securitisation market.