BEVERLY HILLS, January 19, (THEWILL) – In its commitment to deepening financial inclusion and ensuring the unbanked are adequately catered for, FirstBank of Nigeria has intensified the expansion of its agent banking network, while driving robust empowerment of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
At present, there are over 86,000 banking agents of FirstBank across 772 out of the 774 local government areas in the Nigeria – the largest among existing banks.
In an interview with BusinessDay, Adesola Adedutan, FirstBank CEO, described this as a demonstration of the bank’s commitment to the financial inclusion strategy to reach the unbaked, noting that over N9.6 trillion had been processed through its agent network.
He explained that FirstMonie agents have supported several government and NGOs’ cash transfers to the poorest of the poor in the rural areas.
Additionally, selected FirstMonie agents in the rural communities are equipped with BVN enrolment devices; as such they can enroll and open accounts for rural dwellers that hitherto may not have had the opportunity to be included in the formal financial services system.
Adeduntan also highlighted the bank’s commitment to providing access to finance for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) hinging this on “their potential to impact the economy”.
He said the bank’s financial inclusion windows are known to be value adding solutions that have created a functional ecosystem for SMEs to thrive.
The ecosystem includes propositions such as connection of the SMEs to talents and resources/cutting edge tools, access to business finance and market, capacity building opportunities and policy advocacy.
These are all aggregated on the bank’s SMEConnect platform as value adding products and services for easy access and at rates (prices) that are competitive and mostly discounted.
The SMEConnect is a digital platform that allows the SMEs to connect to FirstBank’s offerings from the comfort of their locations anywhere in the world.
According to Adeduntan, “this has been well received by the SME community as we engage across the country.”
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