A former stock trader with UBS Investment Bank, Mr Kweku Adoboli, is to share his expertise on ways to stimulate growth in the local mortgage market at a two-day pension conference scheduled for February 23-24, 2021.

The UK-trained investment banker now a consultant is billed to speak at the Pension Strategy Conference 2021 organised by Axis Pension Trust in partnership with the CFA Society, Ghana.

This year’s event, which is the third edition, will be held virtually under the theme: ‘Adding Value to Pension Funds through Alternative Investments.’

A statement from the organisers said Mr Adoboli was expected to kick-start a conversation on how the country can deepen the mortgage market and use it as a vehicle to provide decent homes and jobs for the populace.

“Kweku will share his thoughts on how we can leverage defined contributions (DC) pension to improve mortgage liquidity and home ownership as part of his presentation for the event,” the statement said.

Perspective

Giving a perspective to the discussion, the statement said the country was noted to be suffering a housing deficit in excess of two million units.

It said the country needed to provide between 190,000 units and 200,000 units at a cost of $3.4 billion every year over the next decade to be able to close the gap.

It said although most workers in the formal sector were contributing to pensions under Act 799, they were unable to afford mortgages.

This, the statement said was in spite of the fact that Act 799 made provision for contributors to use portions of their contributions as collateral for mortgages.

It said the conference between Axis Pension Trust and CFA Society Ghana has assembled experts to lead discussions on the topic with the aim of finding workable solutions.