Follow Us on Google
By Chinwendu Obienyi
TIER-1 bank, Access Bank Plc, has said it intends to give out more digital loans before the end of 2021. oThis is even as the bank launched the Diamond Business Advantage (DBA) Lite to address the challenges of accessing digital loans for youth entrepreneurs.
Speaking during the launch of the product in Lagos recently, the bank’s Executive Director, Victor Etuokwu, said, entrepreneurship is essential for the growth of any nation which is what Access Bank is aligning itself to.
He noted that the new product, a variant of DBA (TraderLite) specifically designed for young entrepreneurs and is a current account designed to add value to Micro, Small and medium businesses (MSMEs) and cause business growth via smart banking (cost management).
“DBA Lite is a product of the erst-while Diamond bank via the Diamond Business Account (DBA) and that was one of the best products in the market but after the merger, we renamed it as DBA but this innovation; DBA Lite is targeted for the youths who are start-ups, established or growing. This innovation will bring access to digital loans for the youths because that is what we want to do with this innovation”, He said.
Other News
Etuokwu noted that the digital loan will be in the form of 50,000 to N5 mil- lion and that the entrepreneurs can only access the loan once they meet the requirements.
According to him, Access Bank ac- counts for over 50 per cent of digital loans in the industry because it is giving these loans at an average of N18,000- N20,000 daily.
“Last year, 4 million people accessed N100 billion and we are targeting more in 2021. We are growing and we will keep growing because our digital loans are not for the youths only but for small business owners, employees and the rest of them and I am assuring you that we will do double digit this year as that is the plan. As we speak, we are averaging N12 to N13 billion every month and so we should be somewhere around N60 to N70 billion and clearly, we will do more than we did last year”, He said.
Giving more insights to the product, Etuokwu noted that the features of the product include; less documentation, af- fordability, convenience, access to mar- ket, access to finance, access to business loans and access to payment acceptance services.
