Press release: Brief on NMRC’s activities for the months of June and July 2018
NMRC ANNOUNCES IMPRESSIVE 2017 FINANCIAL RESULTS AT ITS 4TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (AGM)
The Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) maintained a trajectory of strong growth in a challenging Nigerian economic and business environment with an impressive and profitable outing in the financial year ended December 31, 2017. The results, released at NMRC’s 4th Annual General Meeting (AGM) that held on the 31st July in Lagos, show a 31.4 percent rise in net interest income from N3.02 billion in 2016 to N3.97 billion and a 58.3 percent increase in Profit before Tax (PBT) from N1.2billion in 2016 to N1.9billion. The company also grew its balance sheet from N40.79 billion in 2016 to N42.54billion. Speaking on the development at the AGM, Kehinde Ogundimu, the acting MD/CEO said NMRC’s cost-to-income ratio, capital adequacy ratio, and other regulatory and performance metrics were significantly better in 2017 than 2016.
Furthermore, NMRC’s capacity to provide liquidity in the housing market received a huge boost as the company secured the approval of shareholders to increase its debt issuance programme from N140billion to N440billion.
NMRC JOINS LOCAL & INTERNATIONAL HOUSING LEADERS TO CHART A MORE IMPACTFUL PATH FOR NIGERIA’S HOUSING & MORTGAGE MARKETS
The Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) joined local and international housing leaders, government policy makers and industry stakeholders at the 12th Abuja International Housing Show to discuss, share experiences and practical ideas on Driving Growth & Sustainability in Nigeria’s Housing & Mortgage Markets – Improving Structures and Policies for Impact. The event held from July 16th to 19th at the International Conference Center (ICC), Abuja. The NMRC team to the event was led by the Managing Director/Chief Executive, Mr. Kehinde Ogundimu and the Executive Director for Policy, Strategy, Partnerships and Business Development, Dr. Chii Akporji both of whom were speakers/panelists at several of the sessions of the Conference. NMRC organized one of the key sessions of the event focused on approaches to enabling robust mortgage market & financial inclusion through underwriting standards, with focus on the recently published uniform underwriting standards for the informal sector.
The new uniform underwriting standards for the informal sector, a groundbreaking initiative of the NMRC in collaboration with other industry stakeholders such as the CBN, MBAN, NDIC and FMBN seeks to bring into the mortgage and financial net the huge informal sector of the Nigerian economy which has been estimated to account for about 60 % of Nigeria’s GDP. Overall, the experts, listed inadequate finance, high cost of fund and building materials, poor land administration, lack of creativity in architectural design and difficulty in accessing land as knotty issues militating against affordable housing delivery.
They also agreed that in spite of the challenges, the mortgage industry has witnessed several groundbreaking milestones that signal hope for the future. These include the building of institutions such as the NMRC, Mortgage Warehouse Funding Limited, Family Home Funds amongst others.
NMRC AND CBN CONTINUE ADVOCACY DRIVE FOR NATIONWIDE ADOPTION AND PASSAGE OF THE MODEL MORTGAGE AND FORECLOSURE LAW
In continuation of the advocacy campaign for a nation-wide adoption of the Model Mortgage Foreclosure law, the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) and the Nigeria Housing Finance Program (NHFP) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from July 9th to 11th organized a workshop on “Creating an Enabling Environment for the Growth of the Housing and Mortgage Sector: The Need for Law and Law Reform”.
The Workshop was specifically targeted at engaging, deepening understanding and securing buy-in of key stakeholders critical to the passage of the law by State Governments across the country. In attendance were Speakers of State Houses of Assemblies, Attorneys-General and Commissioners for Lands and Housing from all states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The key issues that the draft Model Law seeks to address include fast tracking the process for creating legal mortgages (including reducing the cost and the processes for obtaining relevant consents and registration), timely resolution of disputes arising out of mortgage transactions, consumer protection and creating an efficient foreclosure process.Presentations and discussions during the three-day event centered on the social and economic benefits of the Model Mortgage and Foreclosure Law, which addresses perennial constraints to housing development especially regarding land title acquisition, property registration and instituting a foreclosure mechanism to expedite the process of homeownership.
Key speakers at the Workshop included Mrs. Tokunbo Martins, Director, Other Financial Institutions Services Department (OFISD) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Head of CBN’s Implementation Team of the Nigeria Housing Finance Programme, Adedeji Adesemoye and Mr. Adeniyi Akinlusi, President Mortgage Bankers Association of Nigeria (MBAN). Also in attendance were representatives of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC); Nigerian Governors’ Forum; Mortgage Bankers Association of Nigeria (MBAN) and Real Estate Development Association of Nigeria (REDAN).
In the communique by workshop participants, every state government was urged to have a road map for the passage and implementation of the MMFL, with focus on – regulatory framework; collateral registry; and education and public awareness.It further noted “The need to expedite the process for obtaining Governor’s Consent (by delegating the authority to more than one person) in respect of secured transactions or reassess/streamline the process to eliminate the delay in obtaining such consent so that transactions involving real property would be easier and more seamless.”
Additionally, it noted that all levels of government should muster the political will to pass the Model law, as well as address other land administration challenges in the housing and mortgage sector; for them to take ownership of the process of passage and implementation of the MMFL.The communique called for increased collaboration among all stakeholders (the Executive; Legislature; Judiciary; Operators and Regulators) for effective policy formulation and legislation to engender housing and mortgage reform