Guardian

IN compliance with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revised guidelines for mortgage banking operations in Nigeria, Personal Trust Savings and Loans (Mortgage Bankers) will be holding an Extra-ordinary General Meeting (EGM) of its shareholders.

The EGM, according to the bank, is part of its strategies to shore up its capital base in line with the revised guidelines which require regional mortgage institutions to recapitalize to N2.5 billion and N5 billion for national ones.

A statement from the bank signed by its managing director and chief executive officer, Anthony Owuye, and made available to BusinessDay, says the EGM, already slated tomorrow  seeks the needed capital for its regional operation.

“A major resolution to be passed at the  will be the raising of the Authorised Share Capital of the bank from its present N1.5 billion ( proactively achieved in 2008) to N2.5 billion”, Owuye said, disclosing that 80 percent of  this share capital is to be taken up by an international group of investors.

According to him, by the CBN directive as contained in the revised guidelines,

all Primary Mortgage Banks (PMBs) are to meet a minimum capital of N2.5 billion and N5 billion for state and federal authorisation respectively by April 30, 2013.

He said Personal Trust is calling the meeting to give effect to this directive.

“With this Extra-ordinary General Meeting, the coast will now be clear to comply with the CBN directive and we are confident of meeting the deadline for the capitalisation given the level to which our discussions with the investors have reached”, he assured.

Personal Trust is one of the first primary mortgage institutions (PMIs) to go into real estate development with the sole intent of providing houses on which it could create mortgages for home seekers, especially contributors to the National Housing Fund (NHF).

Its Lakeview Estate, an 80-unit estate comprising two and three-bedroom apartments, is located in Amuwo Odofin, a walking distance from the cosmopolitan Festac Town in Lagos.