Banking Briefs
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THE Stanbic IBTC Bank has reiterated the need to enhance funding and capacity building for Small and Medium Enterprises, SMEs. The bank recently organised nationwide Small and Medium Enterprise, SMEs, workshops in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Aba, Lagos, Ibadan, and Kano, with plans to extend to other cities and major towns soon.
Obinna Ukachukwu, executive director, Personal and Business Banking, Stanbic IBTC Bank, said, “The SME sector is pivotal to the economic growth and development of any nation and Nigeria is no exception, which is why the seminar was developed to provide innovative marketing, financial and management skills that are useful to their businesses and provide the skill set needed for their businesses to grow.”
Stanbic IBTC Bank’s approach is very interesting. The bank has developed a unique value proposition to support small businesses, with transactional products; savings and investment solutions; lending products; and wealth protection solutions. Underpinning all these is an investment in technology, which is designed to make banking easier for its SME clients.
Apart from using best-in-class payment solutions, the bank had last year launched an internet banking offering specifically for SMEs. “To help clients improve operations, we believe a migration to digital banking will reduce the challenges faced by customers and help them run more efficient businesses. Instead of spending time travelling to visit our branches, we have created a platform called SME BizDirect for customers to fulfil their banking transaction by telephone and email,” he said.
Besides, the SME BizDirect allows businesses in the country as well as from all over the world interacts with the lender. The BizDirect, which is a virtual centre from which well-trained bankers interact with customers by telephone and email, is the first of its kind in Nigeria. According to Ukachukwu, “It is a testament to the bank’s focus on SMEs that it created a fully dedicated centre to handle enquiries, requests and all other banking needs for SMEs.”
According to the bank, “SME BizDirect will change how banks interact with their clients. The era of depending on physical branches to serve clients is disappearing, and technology will be the major driver of customer engagement in the future.”
The future of banking is certainly interesting, and with innovative solutions like BizDirect, the future of SMEs in Nigeria is certainly bright.
— Jul 25, 2016 @ 01:00 GMT
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