Equity Contribution For Residential Mortgage: PenCom Approves Participation of 34 Mortgage Banks, Gives Conditions

Director General, PenCom, Aisha Dahir-Umar

The National Pension Commission, (PenCom) has released the names of 34 primary mortgage banks approved to participate in the use of the RSA Holders’ balance for residential mortgages.

The Commission also listed certain criteria the mortgage banks must meet before they are qualified to participate.

This is a follow-up to the guidelines for Retirement Savings Account (RSA) holders to access their RSA balance for mortgage payments released recently.

Out of the 34 banks, 19 are from Lagos, seven are from Abuja and the remaining eight are from other states of the federation.

The mortgage lenders from Lagos are Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc; Brent Mortgage Bank LTD; AG Mortgage Bank Plc; Centage Savings & Loans; City Code Savings & Loans; First Trust Mortgage Bank; Global Trust Mortgage; Haggai Mortgage; Homes-Base Mortgage; Imperial Homes; Jubilee-Life Mortgage Bank; Lagos Building & Investment; Prudential Mortgage Bank and Refuge Homes Savings & Loans.

Others from Lagos include Resort Savings & Loans; Safetrust Mortgage Bank; STB Building Society; Union Homes, Mayfresh Mortgage Bank and Resort Savings & Loans

Those from Abuja are Aso Savings & Loans; FHA Homes Ltd; First Generation Homes; Infinity Trust Mortgage Bank; MDSL Mortgage Bank LTD; Nigeria Police Mortgage Bank and Platinum Mortgage Bank

The remaining are from other states: Akwa Savings & Loans Ltd and Mutual Alliance both from Akwa Ibom; Coop Savings & Loans from Oyo State; Delta Trust Mortgage Bank; Gateway Mortgage Bank, Ogun State; Jigawa Savings & Loans, Jigawa state; Kebbi Stare Homes, Kebbi State and Living trust formally Omoluabi, Osun State

The mortgage firms are divided into two: national with minimum capital requirement of N5bn and state with N2.5bn minimum capital. In all, there are 13 categorised under national while the remaining 21 under state.

Speaking at the 2022 Media seminar organized by the Pension Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp) for pension journalists in Lagos themed “Pension: An Opportunity to Own Your Own Home, An X-Ray of the New RSA Plan On Home Ownership,” the Head of Investment Department, Ibrahim Kangiwa, gave highlights of the Guidelines.

In his presentation entitled, Highlights Of Guidelines On Accessing RSA Balance Towards Payment Of Equity Contribution For Residential Mortgage By RSA Holders,” listed eligibility for mortgage lenders.

He said Mortgage lender must be Licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to provide residential mortgage; meet the minimum capital requirement as prescribed by the CBN from time to time; have good financial standing at all times and satisfy the minimum requirements of the CBN; have valid Pension Clearance Certificate issued by the Commission in line with the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014 and comply with the provisions of Sections 2 and 4 (1) and (5) of PRA, 2014.

The roles of the Mortgage lender, Kangiwa said include ”provide application mortgage form for the applicant; open an account for the applicant; verify the genuineness of the property offer; due diligence to ensure that the property has a valuation report.

Other roles are “verify if the 25% of the applicant’s RSA balance will be sufficient as equity contribution; where 25% of the RSA balance(s) is not sufficient, the Mortgage Lender shall request for the payment of supplementary equity contribution from the applicant(s) and issue a mortgage offer letter to the applicant.”

The objective of the initiative, Kangiwa explained “provide access to equity finance for RSA holders in the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

“Improve the standard of living of RSA holders under the CPS by facilitating their ownership of residential homes during their working life.

“Improve enrolment in the CPS by providing incentives to employees who are yet to open RSAs.

“Provide a sustainable source of long-term finance to the mortgage sector and spur development in the housing sector.”

While emphasizing the need for all hands to be on deck for a successful implementation of the guidelines, he said, “stakeholders must work together to ensure effective implementation of the Guidelines.

“Employers should ensure that contributions are deducted and remitted on time as required by law

“Parties should ensure due diligence checks to preserve the integrity of the process.”