DT Correspondent
Financial services group CBZ Holdings Limited (CBZ) has signed a US$15 million credit facility from Shelter Afrique Development Bank (ShafDB) for housing development and mortgage origination.
CBZ Holdings group chief executive officer Lawrence Nyazema said the financial injection would further strengthen the bank’s position in the real estate sector.
“We see ourselves partnering for the next 100 or 200 years and our goal is basically to provide affordable housing solutions for our people,” Nyazema said during the signing of the US$15 million credit facility in Harare yesterday.
“Zimbabwe is one of the few countries where you are offered a mortgage facility for two years that has to stop; a mortgage facility should be for 20 years or 30 years as long as you are still generating income to pay off that facility. So the aim is for us to make affordable housing units and affordable financing.”
ShafDB’s group chief business officer, Gibson Mapfidza said the agreement was a testament to the strong trust and confidence between the two organisations which spans over decades.
“Today we are very happy that this line of credit that we are advancing to CBZ Bank has been done before. We trust the relationship, and we are very confident that CBZ Bank going forward will be able to deliver more.
“So the US$15 million we are delivering today has a number that says these are the number of houses because our thrust is to solve the US$52 million housing deficit across Africa and 1,1 million housing deficit in Zimbabwe,” Mapfidza said
The partnership between the two institutions was first established in 2012 with a US$7,5 million funding agreement. Following the success of this initial partnership, CBZ Bank then secured another US$8,3 million in funding in 2013.
These two facilities, each spanning 10 years, have been instrumental in financing low-cost housing projects and providing mortgage financing to beneficiaries, fostering a decade-long collaboration between the two institutions.
