Our Activities

SECO IFC Ghana Primary Mortgage Market Initiative has three main components:

1. Working with financial institutions to develop and launch mortgage products. The program assists participating financial institutions to develop products, services and processes to originate mortgage loans. The program also advises financial institutions on how to raise long term resources to fund their mortgage activities. Alongside the advisory project, IFC, through the Mortgage Funding Program, provides both foreign and local currency denominated long-term funding to participating local banks in Ghana which they then on-lend as mortgages to the public.
   
   
2. Working with the government of Ghana to improve the legal, tax, and regulatory framework for mortgage finance. This component focuses on foreclosure and eviction rules, favorable mortgage provisioning and capital rules for residential mortgage investments, as well as the promotion of a secondary mortgage market. The program will also make recommendations for incentives in the tax code to promote home ownership and attract institutional investors to the mortgage market.
   
   
3. Improving supporting institutional processes and industries. This component focuses on institutional processes such as land titling, and working with supporting industries, for example, real estate companies and appraisal firms, in order to build the components necessary for a strong mortgage market. The program also advises the government on developing a comprehensive housing policy.

Five local financial institutions are presently participating in the program. They include HFC Bank, Ghana Home Loans, Ecobank Ghana Limited, Fidelity Bank, and Merchant Bank Ghana Limited.