Reinsurance Holdings Ltd., has underwritten a Lloyd Thompson contract which will give South Africa's lower income communities access to affordable housing loans, it was revealed yesterday.

Lloyd Thompson, a London-based international insurance and reinsurance broker, completed the contract with Home Loan Guarantee Company of South Africa.

Lloyd Thompson, exclusive broker to Home Loan, brought in Centre Re for additional capital.

Centre Re will provide reinsurance capacity to Home Finance Guarantors (Insurance) Ltd., a captive insurance company established and managed by International Risk Management (Guernsey) Ltd., part of the International Risk Management Group.

"We welcome all initiatives which provide opportunities for people with low income to access loans to buy homes,'' South African Housing Minister Sankie Mtbembi-Mahanyele said.

"I congratulate Lloyd Thompson and Centre Re for the creative initiative they have taken to enhance Home Loan's capacity to provide such opportunities.'' The South African government has set a target of a minimum of one million new homes to be built over the next ten years.

With about 200,000 new families entering the country's housing market yearly, there is currently a shortage of about 1.5 million homes.

As a result, South Africa's government has turned to the private sector to help deliver affordable homes.

Home Loan already provides guarantees to lenders with the aim of stimulating the South African government's policy.

Lloyd Thompson owns 49 percent of Bermuda-based Triangle Brokerage Ltd.

Triangle does work with Lloyd Thompson but was not involved with this contract, Norman Amundsen, a managing director of Triangle, said.