• Tuesday, December 24, 2024
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Polaris Bank bags top awards at BAFI 2023

Polaris Bank wins BusinessDay’s “Best Bank for MSMEs” award

Polaris Bank celebrated a remarkable achievement over the weekend, as its homegrown digital bank, VULTe, secured the title of “Best Digital Bank of the Year” for the third time in Nigeria.

The prestigious accolade was presented at this year’s BusinessDay’s Banks and Other Financial Institutions (BAFI) Awards. An award created to reward excellence in Nigeria’s competitive financial space.

VULTe is Polaris Bank’s innovative digital banking platform designed to offer customers a wide range of services, from opening accounts to applying for specific types of loans and accessing bank statements.

Additionally, it connects users with lifestyle trends and social events, serving as an all-in-one solution to meet the various needs of customers and provide easy access to financial services.

In the past year, VULTe expanded its capabilities to serve not only individual customers but also small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), high-net-worth individuals, and retail customers.

This development means that over 40 million SME operators in Nigeria can now use VULTe to secure collateral-free loans for personal and business purposes. Eligible entrepreneurs and SME operators can apply and receive loans of up to N20 million within just 5 minutes, all without the need to visit a physical bank branch.

Read also:Converting your dollars to naira made easy with VULTe by Polaris Bank

The BAFI Awards selection committee recognised VULTe as the Best Digital Bank based on eight key metrics.

These metrics encompass the strength of the bank’s strategy for attracting digital customers, user engagement, successful adoption of digital offerings, growth in the number of digital customers, platform security, breadth of product offerings for both retail and corporate clients, evidence of tangible benefits from digital initiatives, and web/mobile site design, intuitiveness, and functionality.

In addition to this impressive digital accolade, Polaris Bank also took home the “Best MSME Bank of the Year” award at the same BAFI Awards event.

This recognition marked a back-to-back win for the bank, which also received the same award in 2022. The organizers praised Polaris Bank for its extensive support and impact on MSME operators across Nigeria.

Over the past nine months, Polaris Bank has committed significant financial resources to enhance the operations of MSMEs in Nigeria.

In May 2022, the bank initiated a N1 billion fund for MSMEs in partnership with the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF), aimed at providing crucial funding to empower entrepreneurs and foster economic growth within the MSME sector, starting in Lagos.

Read also:Polaris Bank supports girl-child education in Nigeria’s public schools

Polaris Bank has consistently provided multibillion financing to MSME operators across various sectors, including healthcare, and implemented incentives like granting moratoriums on facilities to help businesses weather the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dele Adeyinka, the Retail & Digital Banking Divisional Head, expressed the bank’s gratitude for the recognition and dedicated the awards to Polaris Bank’s loyal customers and stakeholders.

He also pledged the bank’s commitment to continue its digital impact on MSMEs by delivering innovative banking products, affordable financing, and creative services that bring significant value to all stakeholders.

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