Mortgage financing is considered as an investment opportunity; Egypt has tremendous opportunities in this sector
CBE’s initiative fuelled the construction of 450,000 housing units
Cairo, April 4th, 2021 – The Social Housing and Mortgage Finance Fund and Crédit Agricole Egypt signed a cooperation agreement to support low and middle-income citizens within the framework of the Central Bank of Egypt’s initiative to provide mortgage finance. The agreement was signed by Mrs. Mai Abdel Hamid, CEO of the Social Housing and Mortgage Finance Fund and Mr. Walie Lotfy, Deputy Managing Director of Crédit Agricole Egypt in the presence of senior representatives from both sides.
The agreement between the Social Housing and Mortgage Finance Fund and Crédit Agricole Egypt falls within the bank’s strategy to serve the Egyptian society and increase customer satisfaction through its various innovative banking products and by capitalizing on the Central Bank of Egypt’s initiative to provide mortgage finance to low and middle-income.
During the signing of the cooperation protocol, Mai Abdel Hamid, CEO of the Social Housing and Mortgage Finance Fund, said: “The Central Bank of Egypt’s initiative is successfully prompting more banks to promote social housing projects. The initiative started with four banks serving 800 clients per month and now 22 banks are offering mortgage products for 8,000-10,000 low- and middle-income clients per month.” She added: “Crédit Agricole Egypt demonstrates great professionalism in dealing with all files entrusted to the bank. And the fund is looking forward for further cooperation with the bank in the coming period.”
From his side, Walie Lotfy, Deputy Managing Director at Crédit Agricole Egypt, said: “This agreement comes in response to the initiative of the Central Bank of Egypt to provide mortgage finance, which enables more citizens to buy suitable housing units with a repayment period up to 20 years at a low interest rate. This also falls in line with the presidential initiative to offer adequate housing for all Egyptians. Accordingly, Crédit Agricole Egypt has been availing the home loan through its network and through its dedicated subsidiary, the Egyptian Housing Finance Company (EHFC), one of the oldest companies in the field of mortgage financing in Egypt.”
He added: “Mortgage loan is really considered as an investment enabling consumers to own a property, which is a great saving asset on the long run. There are still tremendous opportunities in Egypt in this sector, especially since the Central Bank of Egypt has facilitated the procedures to obtain mortgage loans in a way that achieves the best interest of the customer, the banks, and the real estate developers, evident by the construction of 450,000 housing units since the launch of the initiative.”
Commenting on this important collaboration, the Managing Director of Crédit Agricole Egypt, Jean-Pierre Trinelle said: “We are developing the mortgage finance product, benefiting from the expertise of Crédit Agricole Group being the market leader in this field in France. This agreement allows us to expand our services to different client segments in full adherence with Crédit Agricole’s ambition to serve actively the society and the local economy. We are always keen to ensure that Crédit Agricole Egypt is part of the Central Bank of Egypt’s initiatives empowering customers on one hand and stimulating market dynamism and growth on the other.”
It is noteworthy that under the middle-income mortgage finance scheme, the maximum monthly income for households has been set at EGP 14,000 and at EGP 10,000 for individuals. For low-income citizens, the monthly income threshold is EGP 4,500 for individuals and EGP 7,000 for households. The value of mortgage financing reached EGP 33 bn at average financing of EGP 100,000 per unit.
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