NMRC in bullish outing, set to finance N10bn existing mortgages
After one year of its formal launch to berth a new era in Nigeria’s mortgage industry through increased liquidity and lower lending rate, the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) is set to finance a total of 600 existing mortgages (legacy loans) valued N10 billion.
The secondary mortgage market institution says that beyond kick-starting its refinancing process, it is already building a sustainable partnership with the pension and insurance industry to further broaden the scope of its service delivery.
The new partnership with operators in these sectors will enable home seekers use their pension contribution as part of deposit for their homes, while insurance firms will introduce new products that will equally allow intending homebuyers pay their deposit through insurance.
Charles Inyangete, the company’s CEO, who disclosed these initiatives at a public awareness and capacity building workshop in Lagos recently explained that while only eight Primary Mortgage Banks (PMBs) were part of the initial N10 billion financing of existing mortgages, the NMRC has 20 PMBs as shareholders.
Inyangete dismissed insinuations in some quarters that the NMRC has not lived up to its initial hype since launch, recounting some major achievements of the company in its two years of existence.
“NMRC has done a fair deal in the past one year. One of our achievements is the introduction of the uniform underwriting standard to the market.
“For the first time in Nigeria, we now have underwriting standard that really determines how loans are originated, evaluated and that creates a level playing field for all operators in the market,” he explained.
The underwriting standard also ensures that only qualified PMBs can access funds from the NMRC, hence, every primary lender willing to benefit from the company will have to meet the requirement of the standard.
“We are also reaching out to developers, not just for the purpose of affordability but also for quality by ensuring they don’t just build but deliver houses that appeal to homebuyers,” he added.
Another key achievement by the institution is the drafting of a new foreclosure law, which will produce a more streamlined, standardised, process for foreclosure in all states of the federation.
On his part, Thomas Olorundare, Director General, Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA), expressed his sector’s willingness to partner with the NMRC in achieving its vision of stimulating the mortgage industry.
“We are quite central to the sustainability of policies and initiatives in the housing industry, especially when mortgage is being considered,” Olorundare said, adding that with products such as Mortgage life insurance, the NMRC can be rest assured of recovery in the event of an unforeseen circumstance befalling a borrower.
Inyangete explained that the workshop was designed to prepare, educate, and position mortgage operators and stakeholders for the imminent boom in mortgage refinances, and investment vista from the much anticipated successful issuance of the NMRC Bond in the capital market.
Participants at the workshop comprised representatives of international development finance agencies, Nigeria’s PMBs, local and international capital market operators, industry regulators, policy experts etc. across the globe.
ODINAKA MBONU