Is he (J. Mwangi) to offer mortgage thro' HF where EB owns close to 25% or via EB itself. With 5% ownership of EB and over 20yrs at the helm, why can't he retire? He can try governor of (is it) Murang'a county.

Subprime mortgages:
So far, financial institutions have been careful about who they lend to to ensure that people take mortgages they can afford to repay. The US problems were partly caused by greedy bankers who were hawking loans to all and sundry irrespective of ability to repay.
If his dream of lending to people who are on a salary of 20 k is realized without waiting for policy adjustments in the housing industry to deal with all the problems facing the housing industry like
- Speculation on land (which someone here has said accounts for 40%) of the cost
- Infrastructure development (which developers are now forced to do)
- Financing structure
the default rate in such loans will go UP. Other thing he said is EB makes its money on large volumes. Wondering how this would play out on the property market. “Fuel” a construction boom in that segment of the market to make sure maaaaany affordable houses are built, and then lend out to people on a 20k salary. Can only lead to irresponsible lending. Read somewhere that “mortgage” literally translated is something like “death lock”. Sure trigger to problems in that industry.
Read the thread on the “housing bubble” for lots of speculation about a burst.

Mortgages sio mkate.
Equity will burn if its not careful

It's common sense that Equity do not have the experience that HF & S&L have in the Mortgage industry.
One sure way of going to the grave is for Equity to overlook its sister firm HF and take the plunge!
They have to stick to their core business, otherwise known as FOCUS!

Underestimate Equity Bank (JM) at your own peril. HF is already in their stable so they can draw on that experience.

If you read the BD story on the proposed British American Investments listing, it may give you some insights into some of the thinking going on in the Equity Bank/Housing Finance/ British American Investments consortium. I would not bet against these guys, UNLESS I have incontrovertible proof that they will fail and that will be pretty hard to come by.