EX-banker turns to lecture room

Business
At Throgmorton House along the bustling Samora Machel Avenue in Harare, Samson Ruturi is sharpening the skills of would-be banking professionals at the newly established Mortgage Banking School of Southern Africa (MBSSA).

At Throgmorton House along the bustling Samora Machel Avenue in Harare, Samson Ruturi is sharpening the skills of would-be banking professionals at the newly established Mortgage Banking School of Southern Africa (MBSSA).

Ndamu Sandu

This is a departure from the role he played over a decade ago at the helm of First National Holdings Limited (FNHL), the institution he co-founded with Nicholas Musona. FNHL was the parent company of First National Building Society (FNBS).

FNBS was to close in 2003 and all attempts to revive the banking institution failed.

Ruturi dusted himself up and shifted focus to his other passion. He is now a trainer at MBSSA where he is the education facilitator in charge of the curriculum.

Ruturi said the school, which was established in 2009, focused its philosophy on three levels — high theoretical rigour, high methodological rigour and high practical relevance.

“Focusing on the three areas helps to produce a well-groomed and knowledgeable mortgage practitioner who understands the theory and practice of mortgages, as well as the methodologies for raising funds for processing loans,” he told Standardbusiness last week.

He said the current thrust of university education focussed more on theory at the expense of what was practically relevant.

Ruturi was Association of Building Societies chairman of the education committee for seven years, its representative at the Institute of Bankers’ of Zimbabwe and a member of the institute’s education committee.

“I was chief examiner of mortgage-based lending at IOBZ and I was both the author and editor of the study modules of mortgage-based lending of the current IOBZ intermediate and advanced diploma,” Ruturi said.

“This experience of mortgage-based lending and a passion for training and developing is being drawn from my earlier years when I was personnel and training officer at a local building society from 1981 to 1985.”

Ruturi said there was a skills deficiency gap and his school would certify competence in mortgage loan processing, loan origination, underwriting, administration and conveyancing of real estate.

He paid tribute to government for making huge strides in the development of the education system.

“However, the role of mortgage banking school is to fill those little gaps which government cannot provide at that scale because of the narrow area that mortgage finance focuses on compared to the rest of the area that government is focusing on,” he said.

Ruturi said the hyperinflationary period and the closure of a number of banking institutions meant that there was a loss of skills, knowledge and institutional memory on mortgage banking in the country. He said the local industry was trailing by about 30 years other industries in developed and developing countries.

“In Zimbabwe we are still focusing on the primary mortgage market using traditional instruments [adjustable rate mortgage, fixed rate mortgage and depositors funds] as the only sources of funding mortgage loans. In other developed world and some developing countries such as South Africa, Chile, Britain, US and Japan, they have developed a secondary market where mortgage loans are tradable in the market and are bought by local and international investors as a major source of funds needed to give loans in the primary market,” he said.

“What Zimbabwe needs to focus on is to develop a deeper mortgage debt market where capital to finance home ownership is drawn from a wide variety of investors who deal with a market maker in the likes of a huge financial institution that has the capacity to purchase and underwrite any new loans.”

Such institutions with capacity to purchase and underwrite any new loans are in the mould of Cagamas (Malaysia), Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae and Sallie Mae (all in the US).

He said Zimbabwe needed to improve institutional capacity to generate mortgage loans and create a platform to access money on the international capital markets because returns locally were higher than in Europe and the US. Does Ruturi harbour plans of going back into the banking sector?

“I have no plans as my hands are full. I am developing study material for this school and other universities where I teach on part-time basis,” he said.

Ruturi said the school was in “constant communication with relevant authorities and potential partners to ensure that we bring our expansion plans to fruition”.