PROCOM Group Establishes One-Stop Mortgage Market
Mortgage
By Dan Ede
PROCOM Group has achieved its target of establishing a one-stop shop for the mortgage business. With its recent acquisition of M & N Building Society Limited (mortgage bankers), the group has mounted the last of the tripodal pillars of the property market.
Earlier, the group has on its stable Housing Alliance Limited as its estate development outfit; and Tradebuild Nigeria Limited, as building materials merchants.
Speaking to THISDAY at the just concluded Archibuilt 2004, Mr. Francis Nwagwu, M & N's head of mortgage operations, said that the mortgage outfit was recently acquired by Housing Alliance and other shareholders, to market the housing stock being developed by Housing Alliance and other developers.
In his words: "The major problem in the mortgage industry is that mortgages are not being created because the housing stocks are inadequate. And that is why the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) now encourage developers to build houses on which mortgage will be created; and that is exactly what M & N Building Society wants to do. M & N wants to market the housing stock that are being developed or about to be developed by Housing Alliance and other developers too. By so doing, the group (PROCOM) is like a one-stop mortgage market where you build and you get facilities to buy at the same time. So, that is actually what we do".
He disclosed that the necessary documentation in respect of the newly acquired Primary Mortgage Institution (PMI) is going on at the moment. This, according to him, was necessitated by the fact that the new shareholders had to recapitalize to meet up with the new Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) guideline which says that every PMI must have a minimum share capital of N100 million.
"The documentation is in progress. They have made payment; all the documentation at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has been completed. Now, CBN is working on it. At the end of it all, an accreditation will be given to the outfit with which we can now access the National Housing Fund (NHF), which is being managed by the FMBN", he said, revealing that at the time the bank was acquired, its share capital stood at N8 million.
He also disclosed that there is a plan now afoot to change the name of the PMI. "In the next two months, we should be able to change the name because they had to do a search on the name, which they have done at the C.A.C. They will now take it to the CBN for approval before we can say this the new name. So, it is still undergoing that process", Mr. Nwagwu said.
Responding to a question on the glut in the upper income segment of the real estate market, Nwagwu said his group would try a mix. "We intend to have a mix because this a business outfit. And the intention of every businessman is to maximize profit. So, in as much as we are catering for the low income, we intend also to cater for the upper class. But that of the low class, we want to ensure that our houses do not exceed the ceiling of N5 million which is the loan ceiling placed by FMBN. In fact, what we intend to do is to have a mix of 1-bedroom , 2-bedroom, 4-bedroom, so that all the income groups will be represented in an estate", he disclosed.
Indeed, the group wants to try this out in the Congress Court Estate being developed by Housing Alliance in the Dakwo District of Abuja. THISDAY gathered that after buildings the luxury units for the federal lawmakers, Housing Alliance will start building for the low income group on the same estate, though an 'apartheid' wall may be erected to separate the two.
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