American-based financial technology firm, First Access has entered into partnership with Lagos-based ChamsAccess Limited, to improve the use of digital platforms for micro finance banks in order to increase efficiency and market target.
The CEO of First Access, Nicole Van Der Tuin, posited that microfinance banks (MFBs) have huge workloads owing to slow manual processes which reduce their efficiency and market coverage.
The First Access boss added that MFBs need digital reinforcement to enable them increase work speed, extend customer reach and also reduce the cost attached to lending.
“The platform is designed for emerging economies like Nigeria because it is rugged, user friendly and customized to suit existing requirements of financial institutions”, said Tuin.
She also mentioned that while MFBs are adjusting to the revised capital requirement and also working on fully digitalizing their customer base, it will aid the bank’s data collation with speed and authenticity. Furthermore it will help the financial institutions adjust to new regulations faster.
The fast access platform which has been active in other African countries has recorded success disbursing loans for various reasons such as agriculture, Small and medium scale enterprises as well as other MFBs in Nigeria like Letshego which recorded 16,000 customers in its first 10 days of application.
Dumebi Obodo, Chief Executive Officer ChamsAccess Limited, maintained that the newly developed loan platform allows easy access to credit through the offline and online digitalized method of loan application, loan approval and loan disbursement.
He revealed that platform betters competitors because it has zero setup cost and runs on a small fee for subscription. He disclosed that it is custom made for MFB because of the type of loans disbursed by these banks. He added that use of the platform will reduce the cost of running MFBs.
He said “ChamsAccess looks forward to solving problems by helping MFBs incorporate digital means of loan application, approval and disbursement”
“The platform is designed to suit African countries and conditions and it carries a wealth of 10 years’ experience, understanding the composition and components of MFB and the wide reach connectivity it offers”
He also mentioned that although all corporate entities face challenges but the major challenge battling MFBs are authenticating identities which hinder easy access to credit. He said MFBs are thriving regardless of the various challenges it encounters but the government should set up infrastructure to aid the identity authentication process as well as develop solutions to aid credit access and financial inclusion.
Gbemi Faminu
