MCC Approves Regulations for Mortgage-Backed Securities

Money and Credit Council, a top financial decision-making body, has approved regulations supervising the issuance of mortgage-backed securities, paving the way for all banks and credit institutions to tap into housing bonds.

According to the Central Bank of Iran, whose governor heads the council and published the news on its website, the move has been taken in line with the law for organizing and supporting the construction and sale of houses in the latest MCC meeting on Tuesday.

The law states that “the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance is obligated to provide the required resources to construct houses in the country by creating a secondary mortgage market and issuing participatory bonds backed by mortgages in collaboration with CBI and the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development”.

At present, Bank Maskan, which is the agent bank of the housing sector, is the only lender engaged in issuing MBS and does so at a very limited volume.

The bank aims to publish 100 trillion rials ($2.1 billion) worth of MBS as part of its plans for the next four years, but has so far issued securities worth only 3 trillion rials ($63.15 million) that were offered by its investment arm in July 2016 and subscribed immediately.

In mid-December, the bank notified CBI that it is ready to start the second phase of issuing the bonds that would see more than a threefold increase in value, as 10 trillion rials ($210.5 million) worth of MBS are to be offered.

At its Tuesday meeting, MCC also directed CBI to coordinate any modification of the approved regulations, as MBS issuance will only be effective in cooperation with the capital market.

Based on the approved regulations, CBI is also tasked with reviewing the requests of any banks applying to issue MBS and issue the permits as soon as possible.