{"id":46223,"date":"2021-01-20T13:09:49","date_gmt":"2021-01-20T12:09:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/?p=46223"},"modified":"2021-01-20T13:09:49","modified_gmt":"2021-01-20T12:09:49","slug":"firstbank-deepens-financial-inclusion-with-largest-agent-banking-network-empowers-smes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/firstbank-deepens-financial-inclusion-with-largest-agent-banking-network-empowers-smes\/","title":{"rendered":"FirstBank Deepens Financial Inclusion With Largest Agent Banking Network, Empowers SMES"},"content":{"rendered":"

At present, there are over 86,000 banking agents across 772 out of the 774 local government areas in Nigeria, a demonstration of FirstBank\u2019s commitment to deepening financial inclusion and ensuring the unbanked are adequately catered for.<\/p>\n

In an interview with BusinessDay, Adesola Adeduntan, FirstBank\u2019s CEO, noted that over N9.6 trillion had been processed through the bank\u2019s agent network.<\/p>\n

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As he explained, FirstMonie agents have supported several government and NGOs\u2019 cash transfers to the poorest of the poor in the rural areas. Additionally, selected FirstMonie agents in the rural communities are equipped with BVN enrolment devices; as such they are able to enrol and open accounts for rural dwellers that hitherto may not have had the opportunity to be included in the formal financial services system.<\/p>\n

The bank\u2019s commitment to providing access to finance for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) was also highlighted by the CEO, who hinged this on \u201ctheir potential to impact the economy\u201d.<\/p>

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Advertisement<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\r\n \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

He discussed the bank\u2019s value adding solutions that have created a functional ecosystem for SMEs to thrive. The ecosystem includes propositions such as connection of the SMEs to talents and resources\/cutting edge tools, access to business finance and market, capacity building opportunities and policy advocacy.<\/p>\n

These are all aggregated on its SMEConnect platform as value adding products and services for easy access and at rates (prices) that are competitive and mostly discounted. The SMEConnect is a digital platform that allows the SMEs connect to FirstBank\u2019s offerings from the comfort of their locations anywhere in the world.<\/p>\n

This, according to Adeduntan, has been well received by the SME community as we engage across the country.<\/p>\n

Culled from BusinessDay<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At present, there are over 86,000 banking agents across 772 out of the 774 local government areas in Nigeria, a demonstration of FirstBank\u2019s commitment to deepening financial inclusion and ensuring the unbanked are adequately catered for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":38834,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,17],"tags":[8054],"coauthors":[2391],"class_list":["post-46223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-business","category-news","tag-agent-banking-network"],"yoast_head":"\nFirstBank Deepens Financial Inclusion With Largest Agent Banking Network, Empowers SMES - National Wire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"At present, there are over 86,000 banking agents across 772 out of the 774 local government areas in Nigeria, a demonstration of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/firstbank-deepens-financial-inclusion-with-largest-agent-banking-network-empowers-smes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"FirstBank Deepens Financial Inclusion With Largest Agent Banking Network, Empowers SMES - 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