Lowering the home-loan barrier Mutual Trust Bank PLC.

Syed Mahbubur Rahman
Managing Director & CEO
Mutual Trust Bank PLC.

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“A strategic policy revision from the standard 70:30 debt-to-equity ratio to an 80:20 structure would substantially broaden access without compromising asset quality.”

Mutual Trust Bank PLC. is widening access to home finance through longer tenures, alternative income assessment and faster conditional approvals. Syed Mahbubur Rahman, Managing Director & CEO of MTB, says the bigger challenge is not lack of demand, but affordability, documentation gaps and property-related legal hurdles that keep many creditworthy buyers outside formal finance.

The Daily Star (TDS): What are the main barriers preventing buyers from accessing formal home finance?

Syed Mahbubur Rahman (SMR): The main barriers are affordability, rising property prices, upfront equity requirements and the difficulty of verifying income for self-employed and informal earners. Property documentation adds another layer of complexity. Incomplete chain deeds, mutation delays and lengthy title verification can make otherwise viable properties difficult to finance, particularly outside major urban centres.

TDS: What products and repayment options does MTB offer to make home finance more accessible?

SMR: MTB provides conventional and Islamic financing for apartment or house purchase, construction, renovation and takeover of existing loans. Our current home-loan rate is 11.00%, with repayment tenure of up to 25 years. We also offer family income aggregation, milestone-based disbursement, balance-transfer facilities with zero processing fees, top-up limits and flexible partial prepayment.

For Shariah-compliant customers, MTB Yaqeen offers HPSM-based home financing, including for under-construction properties and self-construction, with structured grace periods and predictable repayment schedules. Our unified campaign-based approach also allows female applicants, co-borrowers and first-time buyers to benefit from competitive rates and reduced processing fees without separate schemes.

TDS: How are you addressing income-proof and property-verification delays?

SMR: We use surrogate credit assessment and alternative data for customers without standard salary documents or audited financials. Banking turnover, POS receipts, rental income and utility-payment history can help establish repayment capacity, while family income can also be aggregated.

For property verification, we use parallel processing and pre-approved project frameworks. Legal searches, technical valuation and financial underwriting can proceed simultaneously, while projects from selected developers may undergo advance legal vetting.