Thursday, 19 December 2024
First City Monument Bank wins Best SME Bank in Africa Award for providing various assistance and opportunities for SMEs to scale business
- The bank successfully introduced various digital initiatives to help SME businesses
- The bank has 25% market share in the SME business and more than 300,000 new accounts
- The bank launched a platform to help women-owned businesses to scale up
5 November 2020, Singapore — First City Monument Bank received the award for Best SME Bank in Africa at the Middle East and Africa Regional Awards Virtual Ceremony 2020 presented by The Asian Banker.
The bank successfully introduced various digital initiatives to help SME businesses
To help SME businesses, First City Monument Bank (FCMB) introduced various digital initiatives such as improved mobile banking services and the remote loan product, an automated and highly intelligent machine for evaluating and approving loan to SMEs using data from their banking account across more than 12 local banks in Nigeria. It approved up to NGN10million ($26.2 thousand) loans in just a few hours through a series of pre-set eligibility criteria programmed to underwrite customers in seconds. Since its launch in June 2019 to date, NGN25.5 billion ($66.9 million) has been disbursed to 6,950 SMEs with NPL of less than 0.4%.
The bank has 25% market share in the SME business and more than 300,000 new accounts
The bank introduced BusinessZone in order to help SMEs get access to training programmes to enhance skill. Through this initiative, SMEs were able to gain tools to improve business operations as well as connect with peers and trusted service professionals. It has a 25% market share in the SME business. In 2019, the bank has grown its SME accounts by 13% to reach more than 300,000 new accounts.
The bank launched a platform to help women-owned businesses to scale up
FCMB launched SheVentures, a value propositions platform to help women-owned businesses to scale up. It offered various projects such as leveraging access to financing schemes, mentorship programmes, as well as training and networking opportunities to name a few. As a result, the ratio of new to bank customers of women-owned businesses have increased from 12% to 21% within six months of the launch.
About The Asian Banker International
The Asian Banker is the region’s most authoritative provider of strategic business intelligence to the financial services community. The Singapore-based company has offices in Singapore, Malaysia, Manila, Hong Kong, Beijing, and Dubai, as well as representatives in London, New York, and San Francisco. It has a business model that revolves around three core business lines: publications, research services and forums. The company’s website is www.theasianbanker.com
You may visit the Excellence in Retail Financial Services page at http://awards.asianbankerforums.com/retailfinancial/
For further information, you may get in touch with:
Mr. Mobasher Zein Kazmi
Head of Research
Tel: (+61) 452 514 145
