IFS LAUNCHES NEW HOUSING PRODUCT
Mohammed Saani Ibrahim
IFS Financial Services, a non bank financial institution, has launched into the Ghanaian market a new housing product called the Property Completion Loan.
The new product which seeks among others to alleviate the national housing deficit, is to also translate the huge stock of uncompleted housing units under construction, into habitable or wealth generating units by targeting individuals whose uncompleted residential properties littered nationwide represents an immense stock of dissipated or idle capital Ghana can presently ill afford.
Launching the product in Accra, Miss Yvonne Quansah, the Director for the Financial Sector Division of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning commended IFS for the innovation and tasked them to spend much time in explaining to the public the merits of the product.
‘'A lot of dedications and campaigns she also advised must be done to promote the new product''.
She continued that Government's ‘'Better Ghana Agenda'' cannot be realized without the timely interventions of financial institutions and went on to promised that the Atta Mills led Government will continue to support them to grow.
On his part, the IFS Chief Executive Officer [CEO], Mr. Kojo Ohene kyei, made a humble request to the Bank of Ghana to discourage the entry of foreign operators into the Ghanaian Non Bank Financial Service Industry which according to him is the incubator for preparing future indigenous banks that needs protection from foreign hawks.
‘'One way of doing this is for the Bank of Ghana to extend deadlines for the new minimum capital requirements for non banks that have operated for less than 7 years prior to the announcement of the new requirement about a year ago' he said'.
He also appealed to the nation's Central Bank to consider renaming the Universal Banks as a Tier One Universal Banks and the non Banks operators as defined in the NBFI Act 2008 as Tier two Banks.
His Company, he stated has come a long way and has risen in stature by introducing innovative products and services aimed at helping people and businesses achieve their ambitions as well as providing employment opportunities for young people.
He attributed the success of IFS as a reflection in their product development activities as they continuously strive to bring to the market, products and services which are not only appropriate, but also make a profound difference.
There are about 100,000 properties which according to him are scattered around Ghana that need to be completed or refurbished as a result of lack of appropriate housing finance.
The IFS Property Completion loan product the CEO noted will unlock the idle capital which is trapped in the numerous uncompleted property developments littered nationwide.
The IFS Property Completion Loan, Mr.O hene Kyei announced started on a pilot basis two years ago has since supported a good number of property developments within the residential, schools and church customer segments with total completion loans booked to date by IFS exceeding US$ 2.0 million[approximately GHC 3.0 million]
‘'We are poised to commit over US$200.0 million within the next three years to support and service property completion loans'' he said.
He further stated that, IFS as a non bank financial institution with a core function of offering short and medium term developing finances with flexible but competitive terms, , believe they have the capacity to satisfy their cherished clients to expand and grow their businesses.
The new innovation is being introduced to complement Government's efforts in meeting the ever increasing demand for educational facilities as it is also targeted at the numerous schools and college infrastructure being developed by the private sector.
‘'There is no doubt that the IFS Property Completion Loan will generate in its wake employment opportunities for individuals and businesses within the property development value chain''.
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