Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation Limited Mortgage Insurance Programme

Mortgage Insurance Programme

The Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation Limited (HKMC) signed the Master Mortgage Insurance Policy with 8 more Approved Sellers today (29 April 1999):

Bank of America (Asia)
Chase Manhattan Bank
Hongkong Chinese Bank
Hua Chiao Commercial Bank
International Bank of Asia
Kwangtung Provincial Bank
Sin Hua Bank
Union Bank of Hong Kong

Together with the 29 Approved Sellers that have already signed the Master Mortgage Insurance Policy, 37 Approved Sellers (see Annex A) have joined the Mortgage Insurance Programme offered by the HKMC. Under the Programme, the HKMC provides mortgage insurance to the Approved Sellers for an amount up to 15% of the value of the property to enable home buyers to secure mortgage loans up to 85% LTV ratio. The HKMC hedges the exposure of the mortgage insurance by taking out reinsurance with the Approved Reinsurers.

"We are delighted with the encouraging response of home buyers to the Mortgage Insurance Programme. In less than a month from its inception, the HKMC has received 187 applications from the Approved Sellers with an aggregate loan amount of HK$406 million. Among which, 133 loans totalling HK$291 million have been approved in principle by the HKMC. With the increase in the number of participating banks and as more banks become ready to offer the product to home buyers, we expect the number of applications will further increase in the near term. We are also pleased to see that secondary property accounts for the bulk of the applications received so far. This indicates that the Programme has served to improve liquidity of the secondary property market as we have envisaged," said Mr. Peter Pang, Chief Executive Officer.

Annex B provides some statistics on the mortgage insurance applications received by the HKMC since 1 April.

The Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation Limited

29 April 1999