Access Bank Plc has launched the first payment acceptable service tagged ‘Swiftpay’ in the banking industry for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
The product is part of the bank’s commitment to support SMEs digitally to meet business needs. It had partnered Google business advisory to train 10,000 customers on the nuances of online business in the next one year.
Over 41 million MSMEs responsible for over 84 per cent of labour force and contribute over 50 per cent to GDP, this is a sector that is critical to economic growth.
Speaking in Lagos, the group head, Emerging Businesses of the bank, Mrs Ayodele Olojede, said, the solution was introduced to support the transition and growth of customers’ business.
The bank plans to continue to nurture SMEs to be successful to boost economic growth and development and expand its footprints and drive a lot of loans digitally in 2021 to satisfy customers’ needs.
Olojede said that the product was part of the bank’s commitment to support SMEs digitally to meet business needs.
According to her, Swiftpay’ is a payment link that can be hosted on merchants’ social media page and can send to anyone to pay after business transactions.
Olojede noted that e-commerce had been challenging with increased risk of fraud due to the rise in the popularity of social media.
On the loan disbursement, Olojede disclosed that the bank had granted loans worth N30 billion to 8,000 customers in 2020, in spite of challenges caused by COVID-19.
She said that the bank would continue to nurture SMEs to be successful to boost economic growth and development.
Olojede said that the bank would expand footprints and drive a lot of loans digitally in 2021 to satisfy customers’ needs.
Meanwhile, Global Finance has named Access Bank the ‘Safest Bank’ in Nigeria for the year 2020 in its latest ranking released at the weekend.
The Safest Banks by Country were selected through an evaluation of long-term foreign currency ratings from Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch and the total assets of the 1000 largest banks worldwide.
Chief executive officer of Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe, commenting on the recognition said: “Throughout 2020, financial institutions all over the world have been faced with peculiarities in safeguarding the finances and data of customers.
“Through this Access Bank has remained steadfast in its commitment to ensuring that the finances of customers are protected and the data confidentiality of all stakeholders are maintained. This recognition serves as an encouragement for us to build on our successes and invest even more in digitally-led measures that will position us as the World’s Most Respected African bank.”
Reiterating Wigwe’s comments, publisher and editorial director of Global Finance, Joseph Giarraputo, said, “For most of 2020, the world has been lashed by the COVID-19 pandemic, a steep drop in economic activity and, in some cases, serious social unrest. Any of these developments could have significantly impacted banks’ credit worthiness. Surprisingly, however, the relative position of the world’s largest banks on Global Finance’s World’s Safest Banks 2020 lists has been mostly stable. One can only speculate on when, or if, the changes will come. In the meantime, the rankings will be used by companies, investors and individuals to gauge the relative safety of the banks with which they choose to do business.”