Sidian eyes SMEs with bonds

Sidian bank chief executive officer Chege Thumbi. FILE PHOTO | NMG

By OTIATO GUGUYU
More by this Author

Summary

• The bank said it has developed internet-based application called Sidian Credible that provides verifiable bid bonds to small and medium enterprises(SME’s) targeting state tenders.
• The authenticity of the bid bonds generated is validated by a QR code embedded in the guarantee. In addition, the bid bonds are auto-signed by Authorized Signatories of the Bank.

Sidian Bank is targeting tender bidders with secured digital bid bonds to help boost its trade finance business.

A bid bond, popular with construction or other bided projects, guarantees compensation to the bond owner if the bidder fails to begin a project. It also provides a guarantee to the project owner that the bidder will complete the work if selected.

The bank said it has developed internet-based application called Sidian Credible that provides verifiable bid bonds to small and medium enterprises(SME’s) targeting state tenders.

The authenticity of the bid bonds generated is validated by a QR code embedded in the guarantee. In addition, the bid bonds are auto-signed by Authorized Signatories of the Bank.

“The platform is accessible by both Sidian and Non-Sidian customers. To the latter, the system has capability for self on-boarding and generation of a bid bond. The self- on boarding process for non-Sidian customers entail an automatic and instant verification of keyed in customer’s information against credible sources availed to the banking Industry by the government,” Sidian said in a statement.

According to the World Bank Kenya Public Expenditure Review, a third of the government expenditure is goes into procuring goods and services.