As part of its financial inclusion programme, the Bank has
provided microloans valued at N40 billion to over 300,000 beneficiaries
comprising 200,000 women traders across the country who have accessed over
$51.28 million (N28.7 billion) of the total loan sum.
Committing to affordable and sustainable financial services
for unbanked and underbanked Nigerians, the Managing Director of FCMB, Mrs
Yemisi Edun, said: “We are proud of our significant role in integrating
Nigeria’s huge informal economy driven by small-scale farmers, traders,
artisans, and other small and medium-sized businesses into the formal economy
through affordable and sustainable access to financial services. Access to
financial services enables prosperity and allows disadvantaged and vulnerable
people to improve their lives, create wealth and reduce poverty. So, we will
continue championing and executing initiatives that deepen access to affordable
and sustainable financial services in our local communities to empower
individuals and businesses.”
In driving financial inclusion, First City Monument Bank
embraced partnerships as critical success criteria. Last year, the Bank
partnered with the World Savings Banks Institute (WSBI) to deepen agency
banking and financial inclusion by rolling out an integrated savings account –
‘Easy Account’- to empower two million farmers by 2023. Under the first phase
of the partnership, covering over 150,000 unbanked and under-banked farmers
across five states, beneficiaries are provided funds and training support
through agricultural agents operating under FCMB’s agency banking proposition.
The states are Kaduna, Kano, Nasarawa, Ogun and Oyo. In
addition, FCMB also recently signed a partnership agreement with Shee-Coops, an
international organisation that raises women’s active participation in
cooperatives around the world, to provide funding to millions of women in the
next five years to pursue opportunities that improve their livelihoods.
FCMB has invested in close to 10,000 agency bankers that
bring financial services to the streets and doorsteps of millions of Nigerians
in peri-urban and rural areas. They are currently driving the onboarding and
empowering of unbanked and under-banked Nigerians.
Bank accounts are now being opened through agency bankers by
hitherto unbanked and underbanked citizens. As a result, they now conveniently
and securely make cash deposits, transfer funds, make withdrawals, obtain
loans, buy airtime, and pay bills, among other financial transactions. In addition,
they also have opportunities to access the Bank’s Agric value chain platform
(EasyClub) and microloans to boost their standard of living and grow
businesses.
A purpose beyond profit commercial banking institution,
First City Monument Bank is a member of FCMB Group Plc, led by Ladi Balogun as
Group Chief Executive. The Bank is committed to COVID-19 recovery, income
equality and poverty reduction by easing credit constraints to disadvantaged
individuals and small businesses.
0 comments:
Post a Comment