Bidaya Home Finance has been launched in a bid to raise the low levels of home ownership across Saudi Arabia. The company will begin operations with a capital of SR900 million. Bidaya Home Finance is a joint venture between the finance ministry's Public Investment Fund and Jeddah-based Islamic Corporate for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), which is a unit of the Islamic Development Bank. Licensed under the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), Bidaya offers professional and reliable Shariah-compliant financial solutions to both customers and partners. Speaking at the press conference, Khaled bin Mohamed Al-Aboodi, Chairman of Bidaya Home Finance, said: "Bidaya was established with the primary purpose of enabling home ownership. Our role as a facilitator will aim to address the economic and social issue by increasing access to finance for middle-income home buyers, and thereby significantly contributing towards the sustainability of the housing sector in the Kingdom." Bidaya was granted mortgage finance license by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) in December 2015. The company is the first newly established real estate finance company to get such a license, and the SAMA approval entitles it to carry out its operations and receive customers wishing to obtain a real estate finance compliant with Shariah. BIDAYA's vision of enabling home ownership for all is demonstrated in its customer-centric approach and the wide range of home finance solutions offered. In order to ensure maximum market reach, Bidaya's business model is based on forging strong alliances with real estate developers and professional service providers, while keeping in mind the aspirational needs of customers. "We at Bidaya are committed to playing our part by streamlining mortgage finance end-to-end processing, short turnaround times, using innovative mortgage technologies, and an engineered approach to evaluate customer creditworthiness which we truly believe lies at the core of further developing Saudi mortgage market," said Mazin bin Ahmed Al Ghunaim, CEO at Bidaya Home Finance. The company's short-term goal is to open three service hubs in Riyadh, Jeddah & Dammam. Bidaya is also set to launch its digital presence with an interactive website before the end of 2016. Bidaya's long-term strategy, in the changing landscape of Saudi Arabia, is to enable and empower aspiring homeowners by simplifying the lengthy and tedious mortgage process to fulfill their dreams.
