Three banks interested in Impact's mortgage fund

Banca Romana pentru Dezvoltare (Romanian Development Bank – BRD), Raiffeisen Bank and Alpha Bank, along with their brokerage and investment management companies have shown interest in teaming up with Impact for the establishment of a mortgage fund to finance housing construction. Real estate developer Impact Bucharest early this year came up with the idea of setting up a mortgage fund based on the concept of a mutual fund to grant housing loans. Impact said back then it was expecting business propositions from any financial-banking institution and consultancy in order to establish the fund. Ioan Popp, Impact chairman did not rule out the possibility of having several banks take part in the establishment of the fund, but mentioned it was unlikely to happen, though. The fund plans to gain 10% of the mortgage credit market in Romania over the next ten years, among others, and relies on its flexibility for the competitive edge, as explained by its officials. ZF