TheCable

Apparently determined to build on its success over the years, Advans-La Fayette Microfinance Bank has secured a national microfinance banking licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria.

A member of the Advans Group, La Fayette was licenced as a financial institution by the apex bank in 2012 and started offering a complete range of financial services and means of payment for its customers including savings accounts, current accounts and fixed deposit accounts.

Now, it has been licenced to operate nationally.

Over the years, the bank has grown to be one of Nigeria’s leading microfinance banks fully committed to responding to the needs for financial services of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and other members of the public who have little or limited access to formal financial services through provision of tailored financial services in a sustainable and responsible manner.

Speaking to reporters on the acquisition of the licence, the managing director and chief executive officer of the bank, Guillaume Valence, said micro, small and medium enterprises are the major contributors to growth and economic development as well as the first employer in Nigeria.

He, however, lamented that that they lacked the financial support to develop their businesses.

“They still lack both the necessary business and financial support to develop their activities,” he said.

“By supporting this population, Advans-La Fayette MFB is contributing to the national objective to reduce financial exclusion rate to 20% by 2020. Moreover, Advans-La Fayette MFB has implemented the international best practices when it comes to client protection principles and contributes significantly to the financial literacy of its clients.”

He added that bank had demonstrated great resistance and resilience to a challenging economic environment and has consistently grown its client base and outstanding loan portfolio over the years.

Giving a load-down, he explained that as at December 2018, the bank had disbursed 63,913 loans for a total of N27.9. He also disclosed that the group served more than 900,000 clients and employed over 6,800 staffs, with a gross loan portfolio of €880 million and a total of €510 million deposits.

Valence added that being now a national microfinance bank, the bank would be able to deepen its outreach contributing to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s financial inclusion objective across the country, expanding the provision of microfinance services to Ilorin, Kwara State which would be the first branch outside Oyo state.