Nigeria’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) numbering over 41 million and responsible for about 84 percent of jobs creation stand to benefit from the first digital payment acceptance service, known as SWIFTPAY, introduced by Access Bank Plc last week.
The bank introduced the payment acceptance service to support the transition and growth of businesses of its customers across the country.
“SWIFTPAY is just a payment link that when hosted on your social media page, you can send to anyone to pay you. It is easy – less than 5 minutes to sign up, convenient, straight through and time savings for everyone,” said Ayodele Olojede, group head (Emerging) businesses, Access Bank at the official unveiling of the solution in Lagos.
Swiftpay can be hosted on merchants’ social media platforms – Whatapp, Instagram, Telegram, Facebook and on individual’s website by uploading the payment link to the platform.
“At Access Bank, we are committed to providing very practical solutions that support the growth of our customers. We know that stronger participation in markets helps strengthen contribution to economic development,” she said.
Olojede said the bank has partnerships that help customers create online stores for as low as N25k.
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“You can see that our customers have access to the entire ecosystem that helps you sell beyond the proximity of your store”.
On how customers can access the solution, she said, “Very easy! Just open a business account with Access Bank and you are automatically registered to use SWIFTPAY very swiftly. Activate and put the link on your social media page, send to anyone who wants to pay you and watch your sales grow. This is beyond account opening, beyond just lending and it is a commitment to providing value”.
The bank is also partnering with Google to provide business advisory to not less than 10,000 merchants that signed onto the platform in the next one year in order to help them build the skill sets required to navigate and manage a business online. Merchants who signed onto the platform would also enjoy discounts on courier services.
On safety of the solution, Olojede said every merchant registered on Swiftpay would carry a ‘verified by Access’ stamp to authenticate the page.
However, in spite of the disruptions to banking activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the bank advanced a total of N30 billion worth of loans to about 8,000 entrepreneurs in the retail market segment of the economy this year.
