Accion Microfinance Bank Attains National MFB Status in Nigeria, Gives Out N32bn Loans

Friday, January 16, 2015

Accion Microfinance Bank Limited has upgraded to the category of a national microfinance bank (MFB). By this development, the bank said, it has surpassed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) requirements for a national MFB.

The bank also said its aim is to further offer financial services to other states in the country. Chief Executive officer, Accion Microfinance Bank Limited, Ms Bunmi Lawson disclosed this yesterday at the bank’s annual customer forum held in Lagos. Lawson said: “Accion has very bold plans for 2015, we recently got the approval from the CBN to become a national bank.

“That means we are expanding our services outside of Lagos to other states across Nigeria. Our plan is that in five years we should be in 10 states across Nigeria and have over 100 branches.” She said the first state the bank would start its expansion outside Lagos is Rivers State. She stated: “The requirement from CBN is that you should have N2 billion in capital, we were capitalised at N1.2billion and we have been able to grow and surpass the N2 billion mark.

“Year-on-year, we have grown on an average of 46 per cent in terms of loan portfolio, our total assets is actually N5 billion, so we are adequately capitalised to actually reach out across Nigeria.”

Continuing, she said: “We believe that as we spread our services across Nigeria, we would reach more people. We would be able to address the issue of financial inclusion as CBN has estimated that roughly 40 per cent of Nigerians have access to financial services and a have bank accounts.

Source: Thisday Live (link opens in a new window)

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financial inclusion, impact investing, lending, microfinance