Access Bank begins disbursement of N50bn interest-free loans
Access Bank Plc has commenced the disbursement of N50 billion interest-free loans and grants pledged to the support of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) destroyed by hoodlums in the wake of the protest against police brutality in the country last week.
Earlier in the week, the company announced that it remains committed to its purpose of impacting lives positively. “In the light of the recent occurrences, we will be supporting Nigerian businesses with 50 Billion Naira interest free loans and grants. More details to come,” the statement said.
Mr Roosevelt Ogbonna , Deputy Group Managing Director, Access Bank, in an interview with THISDAY said: “From tomorrow (Monday), we would start collecting applications from customers. There is an interest-free loan as well as a grant also embedded in that”, further stating that the loan would be targeted at customers of the financial institution across its MSME business, commercial banking customers as well as corporate banking customers affected by the looting and arson in some parts of the country last week.”
According to Mr. Ogbonna, the aim is to support working capital as well as access finance. He explained: “It has a maximum tenor of 24 months for access finance and 12 months for the working capital. The structure is flexible and it is to align with the customers’ cash flow. The term facility would have a moratorium period of six months and then we would structure the repayment following the customers’ own cash flow cycle. Both are interest-free.
“For the grant, we have broken it into two. Firstly is that for youth empowerment and community development. The youth empowerment is in two parts. We have a segment of the grant that is focused on supporting the tech industry and we have another that is focused on skill development, which is for those that are for tailors, barbers, mechanics, criteria.
“The idea is that our branches are all over the country, so whatever skill you have, go to any of our branches and you will get whatever support you require.”
The company further admonished Nigerians to be weary of fraudsters and cybercriminals who would want to take advantage of recent events to lure unsuspecting people into revealing sensitive personal banking information.
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