Wednesday, January 20, 2021/09:10AM/ FirstBank / Header ImageCredit: FirstBank

At present, there are over86,000 banking agents across 772 out of the 774 local government areas inNigeria, a demonstration of FirstBank's commitment to deepening financialinclusion and ensuring the unbanked are adequately catered for. In an interviewwith BusinessDay, Adesola Adeduntan, FirstBank's CEO, noted that over N9.6trillion had been processed through the bank's agent network.

As he explained,FirstMonie agents have supported several government and NGOs' cash transfers tothe poorest of the poor in the rural areas. Additionally, selected FirstMonieagents in the rural communities are equipped with BVN enrolment devices; assuch they are able to enrol and open accounts for rural dwellers that hithertomay not have had the opportunity to be included in the formal financialservices system.

The bank's commitment toproviding access to finance for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) was alsohighlighted by the CEO, who hinged this on "their potential to impact theeconomy".

He discussed the bank's valueadding solutions that have created a functional ecosystem for SMEs to thrive.The ecosystem includes propositions such as connection of the SMEs to talentsand resources/cutting edge tools, access to business finance and market,capacity building opportunities and policy advocacy.

These are all aggregatedon its SMEConnect platform as value adding products and services for easyaccess and at rates (prices) that are competitive and mostly discounted. TheSMEConnect is a digital platform that allows the SMEs connect to FirstBank'sofferings from the comfort of their locations anywhere in the world.

This, according toAdeduntan, has been well received by the SME community as we engage across thecountry.

Culled from BusinessDay

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