Stanbic Bank Ghana has introduced a banking scheme for Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SMEs) that will enable them access loans without providing any form of guarantee.
The scheme would provide unsecured’ lending to SMEs ranging from GH¢40,000.00 to GH¢160,000.00 adding that the Bank would monitor the cash flow of the SME business to determine the eligibility of the application for support.
The banking scheme dubbed “Stanbic Enterprise Banking”, is an enhanced form of service and dedication to its clients in the SME’s sector.
Nana Dwemoh Benneh, Head of Personal and Business Banking, Stanbic Bank Ghana, speaking in Accra at a media interaction said the initiative was is in line with the recognition of SMEs as they contribute in the socio-economic growth of the country.
Nana Benneh said the bank was keen to drive the growth of business in Africa and that over the years, they have introduced products and services to improve the growth of SMEs.
“We spoke with the SMEs to solicit their feedback in terms of services and see how best we can help them to improve their businesses better”, he added.
He said the bank had launched the ‘Stanbic Smart Loan’ as one of the services under the Enterprise Banking proposition to address the challenges SMEs faced in accessing loans from the bank.
Mr Farihan Alhassan, Head of Business Banking, Stanbic Bnak said the importance of the SME sector was well recognized worldwide due to its significant contribution to the economy in terms of higher growth of employment, output, promotion of exports and fostering entrepreneurship.
He said recent studies show that SMEs contribute to over 55 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and over 65 per cent of total employment in high-income countries.
SMEs and informal enterprises account for over 60 per cent of GDP and over 70 per cent of total employment in low-income countries.
He said despite these statistics, SMEs in the country have over the period been given little attention in terms of financial support within the banking industry as banks usually target high net-worth customers with a chunk of dedicated resources.
