Access Bank’s SME loan portfolio hits N60 billion

Access Bank                                        By Adeyemi Adepetun

Access Bank Plc may have empowered the Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs) in the country as its loan portfolio reaches N60 billion mark.Besides, the bank disclosed that it currently has about 250,000 SMEs’ accounts, which it hoped to double in a short while.

The bank’s Executive Director, Business Banking, Titi Osuntoki, while expressing the bank’s readiness to partner with the Federal Government on SMEs’ development in the country, said the N60 billion was made available to small enterprises in about 13 different sectors of the economy. According to her, the SME banking started about five years ago, adding that the bank was also able to get international funding from various multinational organisations in excess of $60 million, which has been made available to SMEs in the country.
Osuntoki stated this in Lagos, when the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, toured the Africa Fintech Foundry, a technology hub, which is owned and controlled by Access Bank.She told the Vice-President and members of his team, which included the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonaya Onu and the Director-General of the National Information and Technology Development Agency, Dr. Ali Isa Pantami, the readiness of the bank to lift SMEs, which according to Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), are more than 35 million in the country.
Osuntoki said the bank’s vision was to see inclusive economic development from the SME’s sub-sector, stressing that the small businesses are work tool for economic growth.The Access Bank ED said the financial institution was seriously targeting becoming a global player, adding: “We are eyeing doubling the SME account to 500,000 over the next five years. We are sure of achieving this because we have set machinery in motion for us to meet that target.”
To the Chairman of Access Bank, Mrs. Mosun Belo-Olusoga, Fintech can be described as process that aims to provide financial services with technology.Belo-Olusoga said Access Bank is aligned with global best practices and doing a lot to ensure that it promotes innovation and creativity.
According to her, access to financial services is an enabler of economic development, which will assist the underserved and unserved Nigerians.“Access Bank is extending services to every remote areas. The target is to activate 35 million new customers in the next five years leveraging on technology to enable access to various range of financial services, including payment,” she stressed.
To the Executive Director, Information and Technology and Operations, Ade Bajomo, Access bank is at the fore front of innovation in the country because it recognizes that things are moving fast and that the banking sector will be disrupted.He revealed the readiness of the bank to partner with the Federal Government on SMEs’ development in the country.