President Lee Jung-hwan of Korea Housing Finance Corp. delivers a welcoming speech at the opening of the 6th AFIS in Busan on Sept. 3, as chairman of the Association of Asia Housing Finance Institutions. (Photos: HF)

Korea Housing Finance Corp. held the 2019 Asian Fixed Income summit (AFIS) at Lotte Hotel Busan, Sept. 3, with some 150 world financial leaders attending. Some included those from the World Bank, Europe Covered Bond Organization, officials of the international financial institutions, government financial officials and journalists.

With “The New Era of Mortgage Finance” as the theme of the meeting, Sec. Gen. Luca Bertalot opened with his key speech entitled “Mortgage Initiative for Energy Effect.” He said the environment-friendly energy effectiveness would be among the key issues among future housing finance.

Luca Bertalot is Secretary General of the European Mortgage Federation - European Covered Bond Council (EMF-ECBC), a market platform which acts as a catalyst and discussion forum and leads EU mortgage lenders and the covered bond community in discussions with the European Institutions and stakeholders in general on all issues relating to the retail and funding sides of the mortgage business.

Morin Schuler, head of the Strategic Research dep’t of ING Group of the Netherlands, stressed the revitalization of Green Bond thru every kind of bond financial supplement funds and the initiatives that are sustainable, noting the successful samples of Singapore and EU.

Professor Lee Yun-tae of Bukyung University presided over a discussion session while Director Chung Jae-son of Korea Housing Finance Corp. explained the company’s system for the issuance of social bonds and the current status of covered bond issuances.

The participants in the 2019 6th ASMMA rais their fists a t a photo session during the meeting in Busan on Sept.4.

Asian Secondary Mortgage Market Association (ASMMA)

The secondary mortgage organizations are the epitome of housing finance. They play a crucial role in promoting homeownership and providing avenues for affordable housing. In addition, being a financial intermediary, secondary mortgage organizations have helped increase the variety of innovative financial products in the debt capital market.

The Association of Asian Secondary Mortgage Organization (ASMMA) is an informal non-profit organization which is open to all secondary mortgage corporations in Asia.

To provide a basis and a platform for exchange of ideas, views and experiences with a view to promoting housing finance market to enable the citizens in the economies of the members of ASMMA (Members) to have better access to home financing support.

The 5th Asian Fixed Income Summit took place in Ulaanbaatar on 2 July.

The summit was organized by the Mongolian Mortgage Corporation HFC LLC in cooperation with the Ministry of Construction and Urban Development, the Finance Ministry as well as the Financial Regulatory Commission. Under the theme of ‘Housing Policy and Financial Solutions’, the summit reaffirmed the importance of Secondary Housing Finance in bridging the capital market to the money market.

The event has been held alternately among 7 Members of the Asian Secondary Mortgage Market Association (ASMMA). The event will be attended by more than 300 participants including the bank’s executives, pension funds, insurance companies, financial institutions, financial authorities and investors in Asia.