OREANDA-NEWS. On 23 April 2008 was announced, that IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, expands its partnership with IMB Group Public Limited (IMB Group) and its subsidiary International Mortgage Bank (IMB), a leading Ukrainian consumer bank, to support development of housing finance in Ukraine. IMB is the only full service retail bank in Ukraine whose primary focus is the residential mortgage market. With this investment, IFC will help to address the country’s housing deficit, and enable a large portion of the low and middle-income population to improve their housing.

To strengthen IMB’s mortgage lending operations and to support its planned residential mortgage-backed securitization IFC provided the bank with a \\$75 million long term secured warehouse line credit. IFC also invested \\$10 million in IMB Group equity to strengthen its capital base and improve its competitiveness.  This is IFC’s second investment in the IMB Group and its subsidiaries. In 2007, IFC provided IMB with a \\$7 million line of credit for mortgage financing.

Greg Krasnov, CEO of IMB Group, said “The partnership between IFC and IMB Group represents a strong commitment by both organizations to have a major impact in the development of the Ukrainian housing and banking sectors. We are honored that IFC has chosen IMB Group and our subsidiary IMB to expand its reach in Ukraine. The IFC equity and debt investments in our company show the confidence in our business strategy, strong corporate governance and transparency”. 

Mamta Shah, IFC Director for Global Financial Markets, said, “Housing finance is an area of strategic importance for IFC because it spurs economic growth, job creation, and entrepreneurship. We welcome this opportunity to work with IMB Group to expand access to housing finance and help standardize mortgage products and processes in the market.”