KMRC stands for Knowledge Media Research Center. It is a type of research center in some universities.
NAIROBI, December 10, 2021-Rachel Mwangangi’s life is changing dramatically. A single mother, she works for one of Kenya’s county governments and solely fends for her two children after the death of her husband. Her journey to homeownership has been a harrowing one, but she is finally set to move into her new house in Nairobi’s Park Road estate.
Mwangangi is among the lucky few who are taking advantage of a mortgage refinance facility established to push mortgages down-market to underserved segments of the market. The Kenya Mortgage Refinance Company (KMRC), which began lending in September 2020, is providing refinancing loans to primary mortgage lenders – mainly banks, Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies, and microfinance institutions – for onward lending to potential homeowners.
KMRC was born from a collaboration between Kenyan financial institutions and the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation-led Joint Capital Markets Program, or J-CAP, which is dedicated to kick-starting robust, well-regulated capital markets in developing countries and harnessing them for local wealth creation. J-CAP lent crucial know-how and support at every stage of the KMRC’s formation, says Johnstone Oltetia, its chief executive officer.
Besides offering mortgages at more competitive rates, the KMRC has also strengthened the infrastructure for the country’s mortgage market by standardizing procedures and practices and supporting capacity-building initiatives for mortgage lenders. This is boosting the availability of affordable mortgages and yielding a positive impact on the supply of long-term finance from Kenya’s financial cooperatives.
