By Elizabeth Chukwuma
Given its interest in African economic growth, in the 21st. century, the United Bank For Africa, UBA, plc popular, Pan African Bank, has moved ahead of other Financial Institutions within the Continent ‘’to the support businesses through its array of consumer lending products’’.
There is no gainsaying the fact that credit remains a major economic stimulant and growth driver across the world that had been largely inaccessible to the informal sector which dominates the African economies and small businesses,which Financial analysts had said constitute the primary growth engine of the economy.
This may have informed why the bank has deepened its consumer lending product offerings with an aim ‘’to delivering services that will empower the customers’’, thus stimulating economic growth on the African continent.
Anant Rao, UBA’s Head, Consumer Lending said the bank had focused on this critical aspect of the economy in line with its customer 1st philosophy ‘’to ensure that the customers are delighted at every touch point.
Speaking during a virtual media parley with journalists from all over the African Continent on Wednesday, June 30, 2021, Rao said, “UBA takes consumer lending very important because of the active role it plays in economic development. Hear him: At UBA, we recognise that customers are important to economic growth, stressing that its various offerings are positioned to support them in this regard.
TAccording to him, the bank loans have been developed’’ ‘’in line with its purpose to meet the financial needs of customers and to be a part of their daily lives’’. He noted that consumer lending is very essential, as it is the category of financing centered on individual and household consumers, which includes personal loans extended to people who use the funds for individual or family purposes as well as home and auto loans. Given an insider information of the new loans, he disclosed that the bank has made the following products available to its teeming millions of customers the world over. The breakdown of the loans include UBA Personal Loan, Credit Card, Advance to Pensioners, Education Loan, Auto Loan, Asset Finance, Insurance Premium Financing UBA Mortgage among others.
He was said to have taken time out to speak on the UBA’s Click Credit – a much appreciated and accepted facility that makes instant cash available to customers with salary accounts within minutes. “Available to all salaried customers, the Click Credit product is an instant loan with no form of documentation, paperwork or queues and is available within seconds of request. He was said to have also made clear that ‘’anybody who owns a mobile phone can borrow from the Bank’’. He may have gladdened the heart of the bank Customers when he disclosed that ‘’the product can be accessed via USSD, Leo, U-Mobile and Internet Banking’’.
He further disclosed that the bank will use the` consumer credit as a means to an end’ ‘’to satisfy the full range of a family’s financial needs and aspirations across Africa. He did not stop there. The UBA, consumer banking boss also took time out to to talk about the innovations that drive the bank’s business including Mobile Banking, Internet Banking, USSD, LEO, Kastle among others.
Assessment of all the Money Deposit Banks operating in the 54 African countries shows that the Pan-African Bank is the Leading financial institution in the Continent, offering banking services to more than twenty-one million customers, across over 1,000 business offices and customer touch points, in 20 African countries.
With presence in the North American country of United States, US, United Kingdom, UK, and France, the bank, according to insiders ‘’is connecting people and businesses across Africa through retail; commercial and corporate banking; innovative cross-border payments and remittances; trade finance and ancillary banking services’’.
