Prime Finance signs deal with BB to provide home loan

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FE Report
Prime Finance & Investment Ltd, a leading non-banking financial institution (NBFI) recently signed a participation agreement with the Bangladesh Bank (BB) to extend home loan facility to lower and middle-income groups of borrowers.
The agreement signed under the 'Bangladesh Bank Refinance Scheme for Housing Sector' will facilitate the borrowers to have increased access to owning homes.
"The scheme offers an affordable rate of interest at 10 per cent per annum for a maximum period of 20 years with repayment facility on a monthly installment basis and we are optimistic that the middle-income groups of borrowers will be benefited with our latest project," deputy managing director of Prime Finance, Akter Hossain Sannamat told the FE Saturday.
As per the agreement, Prime Finance will provide home loans to individual borrowers in the six city corporations -- Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet and Barisal -- along with four municipal areas of Tongi, Gazipur, Savar and Narayanganj for construction or purchase of house or apartments with unit size not exceeding 1,250 square feet.
Only those applicants, whose regular gross monthly income does not exceed Tk 30,000 may receive a maximum amount of Tk 1.5 million as home loan facility.
Applicants who have not taken any home loan previously from any bank or financial institution, and those who do not have any housing or apartment unit in their own or spouse or children's name in the above-mentioned areas are eligible for the home loan facility.
In case of salaried persons, employees not having any home loan facility with their present employer or company are also eligible to apply.
Prime Finance surpassed its prior records of growth, capitalisation, profitability and investments in the year ended December 31, 2006.
"Our commitment on operational excellence and a well-diversified portfolio of various product lines helped us accomplish the achievement," Akter Hossain Sannamat said.
Prime Finance, also a leading listed company on the country's stock exchanges, earned Tk 101.63 million as net profit in 2006 against Tk 95.95 million of 2005 and Tk 72.18 million in 2004.
The company's operating revenue in 2006 rose to Tk 448.67 million from Tk 378.74 million, total investment jumped to Tk 3.46 billion from Tk 2.92 billion, dividend rose to 20 per cent cash and 10 per cent stock from 30 per cent stock and earnings per share to Tk 33.99 from Tk 32.09 of 2005.