Ghana Union Assurance to redeem government of its housing deficit

Ghana Union Assurance (GUA) on Friday rolled-out a comprehensive mortgage financing policy to enable low and middle income earners with the desire to acquire houses without the initial 20 per cent deposit required.

The policy: “GUA Collateral Replacement Indemnity,” (CRI) targets borrowers in the lower to middle income mortgage market without the requisite deposit usually demanded by mortgage financing companies but have the capacity to pay if spread over a period under a financial mechanism to access a home.

Launching the CRI policy in Accra, Dr Mustapha Ahmed, Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing commended GUA for taking a giant leap towards providing an enabling environment for lower and middle income earners to own a house.

“Government salutes GUA for bringing to the Ghanaian market an insurance product which will enable potential home owners the opportunity to afford their own homes which otherwise they could not have afforded because of the 20 per cent deposit required by lenders,” he said.

Dr Ahmed said the GUA policy links up with Government’s effort of creating a conducive business environment for private sector operators to play a leading role in the housing industry…”the CRI policy will reduce some of the burden presently borne by the government in ensuring that its citizenry are adequately sheltered”.

He said government would continue to create an enabling environment for the private sector to develop more products in the future to support government’s developmental efforts.

Nana Agyei Duku, GUA Managing Director said the CRI seeks to remove the bottlenecks in mortgage financing in order to provide Ghanaians with the needed support and opportunity to acquire their own homes.

He said the policy also provided an outstanding benefits including accelerating access to home ownership while providing stability, security, equity and in many instances privacy.

“To the lender, otherwise known as the mortgage financier, the CRI allows equitable growth in a loan books and market share on mortgage financing, which re-enforces our commitment to providing one of the basic needs of life – a home,” he said.

The CRI launch was supervised by Mrs Nyamikeh Kyiamah, Commissioner, National Insurance Commission and observed by industrial stakeholders.

The GUA provide high quality, tailor-made customer focused insurance and assurance services to personal, commercial and organisational clients through innovative product development, enviable marketing strategies and deploying an efficient management of resources.

Source: GNA