The FCMB “E DON BETA” (Pidgin pronounced, meaning ‘It has gotten better’) product, designed as a group lending programme, aims to create financial awareness and empowerment for economically active women through microcredits at reasonable cost.

We give unbanked and under-banked low income women access to credit, savings and other financial services.

Our promise to our customers is to delight them always with:

Fast & Easy Access to Loan – Get a loan without delays

Responsiveness –The product is designed to take care of the needs and preferences of the low-income market, leveraging on their mutual trust and group collateral.

Excellent Customer Service – Our staff are friendly, down to earth, competent, trustworthy and always willing to help. We also ensure there are no language barriers, matching client groups with employees who speak their local languages.

Features

Details

Target Group

 Economically viable low income earners with potential to do daily business with capacity of generating N5, 000 – N50, 000 per month. The bank targets 90% women and 10% men.

Tagline

FCMB go support you o!

Objectives         

*Easy access to loans by urban and rural income earners in order to drive financial inclusion

*To offer more flexible financial services to small income earners in the market to increase their working capital

*To enable small income earners expand their asset base to finance their household needs

 Access requirements   

*Must be 18 - 60 years of age

*Must be in a group. Group size must be 5-25 members who enjoy mutual trust, confidence and respect

*The client must have an income generating activity / business which has been in existence for at least 6 months

*The borrower must exhibit regular savings potential

*Group members must live or work in close proximity to one another; must reside within a radius of 1km

*Attend three to four weeks of training before loan disbursement

Collateral/ Guarantees

Group guarantee

Spouse's consent / other guarantor

Loan Term

 Minimum period is 6 months and 9 months

Grace period (Moratorium)

One week

Repayment Frequency 

Weekly

Loan size

Minimum of N 30,000 to a maximum of N200,000

Interest rate

 3% flat per month

Method of interest calculation  

Flat

Application fees

N500 (on application for a new loan)

Registration fees

N500 - paid once at the point of registration

Passbook fees

N500

Insurance fees

1% (death, permanent/total disability & fire disaster)

Making a sustainable difference

As part of our proposition, we focus on making a sustainable difference in the lives of the self-forming and homogenous groups of people, mostly women, within our target:

Fight against Poverty: Microfinance is a critical element for an effective poverty reduction strategy. Improved access and efficient provision of savings, provision of credit facilities, manage risks better, build assets gradually, develop microenterprises, enhance income earning capacity, and enjoy an improved quality of life. For all our customers, our aim is to reduce household vulnerability to risk, social exclusion and severity of poverty through savings and credit offerings. Our payment transfer services also facilitate trade and investments thereby providing greater income and higher consumption to our clients.

Financial Literacy: One main challenge with financial inclusion in most developing countries is illiteracy. At FCMB, we educate our clients on how to keep record of their transactions, develop financial discipline for wealth generation and sustainable growth; assessment of business profitability and development of entrepreneurial skill.

Rural/Agency Banking: FCMB is a major champion of the agent banking model in Nigeria. While inadequate infrastructure is a concern in the country and FCMB may not be able to establish physical presence in every city/area, we have put structures in place to provide banking services to the ‘unbanked’ through agency banking. Our agents use POS terminals and mobile tablets, to drive instant account opening, immediate debit card issuance and online real time banking transactions by people in rural areas who hitherto had no access to banking services.

Health Education and Support: To promote healthy living. In partnership with health professionals we periodically organize health talks on critical health issues and provide free screening for clients regarding pertinent health issues such as cervical cancer, breast cancer, HIV/AIDS etc.

Contact

FCMB MFB Contact Centre:                                          07007777778

Adetunji Lamidi      Adetunji.Lamidi@fcmb.com       07026370400

Friday Nwokolo      Friday.Nwokolo@fcmb.com       08060989991