The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has approved 34 primary mortgage banks to participate in the use of the Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) for residential mortgage financing in the country.
The approved 34 mortgage banks comprised 18 from Lagos, 8 from Abuja and the remaining 8 are from other states.
According to the approved list, the mortgage lenders from Lagos are Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc; Brent Mortgage Bank LTD; AG Mortgage Bank Plc; Centagr Savings & Loans; City Code Savings & Loans; First Trust Mortgage Bank; Global Trust Mortgage; Haggai Mortgage; Homes-Base Mortgage; Imperial Homes; and Jubilee-Life Mortgage Bank.
Others from Lagos; Lagos Building & Investment; Prudential Mortgage Bank and Refuge Homes Savings & Loans; Resort Savings & Loans; Safetrust Mortgage Bank; STB Building Society; Union Homes and Mayfresh Mortgage Bank.
The primary mortgage banks approved for participation in the RSAs in 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 last 8 from other states include 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.
It would be recalled that the regulatory commission for the pensions had recently released guidelines to allow contributors of the Contributory Pension Scheme to access part of their RSAs for payment of equity contribution for residential mortgage.
The commission maintained that the guidelines were issued in line with the provisions of Section 89 (2) of the Pension Reform Act 2014, which allow RSA holders to use a portion of their RSA balance towards payment of equity for residential mortgage.
The guidelines cover pension contributors in active employment, either as a salaried employee or as a self-employed person and provided that the maximum amount to be withdrawn is 25 per cent of the total mandatory RSA balance as of the date of application, irrespective of the value of equity contribution required by the mortgage lender.
In addition, the guidelines also required that the applicant must have an offer letter for the property duly signed by the property owner and verified by the mortgage lender.
The guidelines further clarified: “To qualify as a mortgage lender for this purpose, the company must be licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, comply with the Contributory Pension Scheme and have valid Pension Clearance Certificate.”
