First City Monument Bank (FCMB), has received another global commendation for its consistent and outstanding support towards the growth of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria.
Last week in the United States of America, the SME-friendly Bank received honourable mention and certificates in two prestigious award categories – “SME Financier of the Year”, and “Best Bank for Women Entrepreneurs” at the highly competitive Global SME Finance Summit and Awards 2021, organised by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group.
According to the IFC, the honourable mention of FCMB in the “SME Financier of the Year” award category is in recognition of the Bank’s outstanding service to businesses operating in International Development Association (IDA) countries and fragile and conflict-affected situations.
In addition, in the “Best Bank for Women Entrepreneurs” category, FCMB was commended for offering exceptional services, including funding and capacity building to women-owned businesses, according to the bank’s statement.
Endorsed by G20’s Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) and the SME Finance Forum was established in 2012 to expand access to finance for small and medium businesses.
The Global SME Finance Awards debuted in 2018 to celebrate the outstanding achievements of financial institutions and fintech companies in delivering exceptional products and services to their SME clients that have achieved impressive results.
Speaking, the CEO of the Forum, Matthew Gamser, said: “Every year, we see more and more impressive institutions doing incredible things to help improve SMEs’ access to finance. We see great innovations, we see new opportunities for redressing past imbalances due to gender, age and other inequities, and we see new ways to put the customer first and ensure that financing is responsible and truly beneficial. The 2021 competition brings us more of the same – bigger innovations, bigger achievements, and bigger potential.”
Commenting on the global recognition, Managing Director of FCMB, Mrs. Yemisi Edun, said: “Once again, it confirms our commitment to national development through peerless support for the sector driving industrialisation, job and wealth creation.”
Edun thanked the IFC and Global SME Finance Forum for considering FCMB worthy of the honourable mentions among the several financial institutions that submitted entries.
She assured that “FCMB will continue to offer the right solutions that would consistently boost the productivity and overall performance of the business of our customers.”
Once again, it confirms our commitment to national development through peerless support for the sector driving industrialisation, job and wealth creation.
Previous recognitions
Earlier in August, FCMB was named the “Best SME Bank in Africa” and “Best SME Bank in Nigeria” at the Asian Banker Middle East and Africa Regional Awards – the rigorous, prestigious, and transparent country-level honour programme for consumer financial services and technology in the Middle East and Africa.
Two months after, FCMB scooped five awards at the Service Ambassadors’ Programme organised by the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN). These were “Platinum Award” and “Best Participating Financial Institution with Most Impact on Total End-Borrowers Financed 2020”.
Additionally, three employees of the Bank, including Oluremi Agboola, Toyin Ajibulu, and Augustine Ibelegbu won Service Ambassador Awards at the event. The trio also received a training grant of N5.5 million.
FCMB has taken the lead in driving the growth and development of businesses. The Bank has digitised and automated its lending process for SMEs through the FCMB Quick-Loans platform. Through this channel, the lender has disbursed over N100 billion in loans to entrepreneurs. It processed over 25,000 digital loans, with monthly disbursement exceeding N15 billion in September 2021.
