ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has licensed three new Housing Finance Companies (HFCs). SECP states that a revitalised HFC sector will cater to the country’s huge demand for affordable housing finance.
The newly licensed HFCs include Pakistan Housing Finance Company Limited, Trellis Housing Finance Company Limited and Asaan Ghar Finance Limited. Before that, there has been no licensed HFC in existence for the past decade.
While aware of the vast gap in the affordable housing finance space, the SECP, in collaboration with Pakistan Mortgage Refinance Company and the World Bank Group, lead off a comprehensive awareness campaign to highlight the opportunities for potential new entrants to tap this vastly underserved market.
Several webinars were conducted to impart information on the regulatory framework and legal requirements to form HFCs. The SECP also guide prospective investors on the available funding mechanisms for housing finance companies and assisted them in preparing workable HFC business models. The SECP also supports the proposal to include the HFCs in Government’s Markup Subsidy Scheme for housing finance.
The initiatives, as mentioned earlier, translated into three new entrants into the housing finance market, who are expected to commence operations during the current year.
