… Republic Bank Ghana partners 5 pension trustees
With a 20-year payment term and mortgages backed by Tier 2 and Tier 3 pensions, Republic Bank Ghana has introduced a pension-backed mortgage programme for employees whose pension funds are held by partnered Trustees.
The partnership, with five Pension Trustees – namely Republic Trust, Metropolitan Pensions Trust, Axis Pension Trust, NHIA Trust and NBC Ghana Trust – enables workers to attract mortgages from Republic Bank Ghana with zero down-payment.
Available statistics show that Ghana’s housing deficit is about 2 million housing units – affecting about 60 percent of the country’s population who require some form of government assistance to access housing.
This pension-backed mortgage comes as a huge relief to workers, who are now assured of securing decent custom-built homes which will be fully paid for ahead of their retirement – assuring them of peace and comfort in old age.
At the product’s launch, Managing Director of Republic Bank (Ghana) Benjamin Dzoboku mentioned that this marks an expansion of Republic Bank’s mortgage product suites.
“Housing finance has been the hallmark of Republic Bank Ghana and it is also serving as the foundation; we can boast of being the premier mortgage institution in the country with rich and diverse mortgage products and services. I can mention about five products that we currently have – which are home purchase; home improvement; home completion; home equity; you buy, build and own. And now we are adding pension-backed mortgages as the sixth product,” Mr. Dzoboku said.
Given the current housing deficit, the managing director said, it was necessary for the bank – which has been the hallmark of housing finance – to develop this product to meet the needs of our prospective customers.
“This product is just targetted at Ghanaian salary-workers. Your Tier 3 contribution will be used. You don’t need any deposits with a tenure of 20 years and at a relatively lower rate. With this, even though we are we are very late coming into the market, we believe our product is the best on the market,” he said.
Chief Executive Officer of Republic Investment, Madeline Nettey, said the introduction of a pension backed mortgage offers alternatives to the ever-increasing clientele base and potential clients whose needs and aspirations keep evolving.
“Republic Investments as a fund manager and player in the pension ecosystem sought to dig into the new pensions Act 766 when it was enacted to identify how we can improve benefits to contributors in regard to pension schemes. Republic Bank marks this milestone in deepening home ownership through pensions by maximising national contributions and benefits,” said Ms. Nettey.
