FCMB Excites SMEs With Free Banking Services

BY CHINYERE OBIORA (LAGOS)
Cheering news have come the way of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria with the First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Limited offering them free banking services for a three-month period.
In line to enjoy the banking without charges transactions are old and new-to-FCMB customers operating in the SMEs sector. This offer, flagged off on February 1, 2017 will round up in April 2017, aims at encouraging Nigerians to take active interest in entrepreneurship.
A statement by the Bank also said the package will assist new and existing SMEs to overcome observable challenges usually faced, especially at the take-off stage. According to FCMB, which prides itself among the leading financial services providers in Nigeria, to qualify for this refreshing banking incentive, an SME is required to open an FCMB Business Account and sign-up for a business debit card at any of its over 200 branches spread across the country.
It stated that the benefits of this value-added offering includes, no banking charges on local transactions, free account maintenance and monthly flat charges, free cheque books, free printing of account statements and free bank drafts.
According to the Divisional Head, Retail Banking of FCMB, Mr. Olu Akanmu, three months free banking package is another demonstration of the Bank’s value as a helpful financial institution committed to helping businesses to thrive in these challenging times. “FCMB is committed to helping Nigerians and their businesses to succeed even in these challenging times. We support them with simple, easy to use transactional products and services that help them to manage their cash and collections efficiently while supporting them in their aspirations to build successful businesses”, Akanmu said
He said the Bank will continue to develop new solutions to support its customers, and urged SMEs to effectively position their operations and take advantage of the unique opportunities present in the FCMB free three months banking as a springboard to take their businesses to the next level.
With the statistics of about 20million registered SMEs in Nigeria, FCMB has continued to offer products, services and other incentives to stimulate and deepen such businesses in a sustainable manner. It is one of the top participating banks appointed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to drive the N220billion Development Fund instituted by the apex regulatory institution to provide loans to SMEs. The FCMB has in the last one and half years disbursed over N3billion to SMEs as against N122million it provided as funding support as at February 2015 ending.