Alhassan Andani
Stanbic Bank Ghana has rolled out a product which allows Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SMEs) to access loans from the bank without providing any form of collateral.
The initiative, Stanbic Enterprise Banking, is in line with the recognition of the crucial role of SMEs in the socio-economic development of the country.
At a media engagement at the Stanbic Heights recently, the bank said the product is an enhanced form of service designed for clients in the SME sector.
Head of Personal and Business Banking at Stanbic Bank Ghana Ltd, Nana Dwemoh Benneh, stated that “we have identified presenting collateral by way of access to loans from a bank as one of the challenges deterring businesses from borrowing from banks to finance their operations; it’s in this regard that we have launched the Stanbic Smart Loan as one of the services under our Enterprise banking proposition.”
“Under this scheme, we will provide ‘unsecured’ lending to SMEs ranging from as low as GH¢40,000 to as high as GH¢160,000 and by so doing, we only monitor the cash flow of the SME business and that would determine the eligibility of your application for support. We will continue to support the SME sector,” he added.
He mentioned that the initiative seeks to increase its over 20,000 SME database before the end of the year.
Under the Enterprise Banking, there would be services like the Enterprise Direct Proposition, which allows for clients to receive services via the telephone; the Enterprise Online, which allows SMEs access to their accounts and the Enterprise Smart Loan, which provides businesses with funding.
Recent studies show that SMEs contribute to over 55% of GDP and over 65% of total employment in high-income countries.
Notwithstanding the above statistics, SMEs in Ghana have over the period been given little attention in terms of financial support within the banking industry, hence the Stanbic Enterprise proposition.
A business desk report P