By Nume Ekeghe and Sunday Ehigiator
In a bid to enhance access to finance, the CreditRegistry have disclosed that First Bank of Nigeria Limited and Access Bank Plc have committed N10 billion to be lent to firms that have good credit ratings.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, CreditRegistry, Mrs. Jameelah Sharrieff-Ayedun, disclosed this during the ‘an evening with CreditRegistry,’ that took place in Lagos at the weekend.
Sharrieff-Ayedun explained: “Two of our financial institutions – First Bank and Access Bank- have made pledges of N5 billion each, and the pledges are expected to continue to grow.
“Our job at the credit registry is to ensure that we find those good borrowers and connect them to those lenders that are ready to give them credit.
“The cost percentage of those loans, and criteria, would still be determined by the banks, but they are now going to be getting from us credit worthy, good borrowers, that they can be able to consider much more quickly.
“Our job is to be able to help each and every one in Nigeria, that is interested in getting access to credit. Now they can get fast and easy access to credit and that means that, we have to be able to help to determine if they are good borrowers, the kind of person who are going to be able to take a loan and honour those obligations.”
“And if they are doing that and doing that consistently, more and more will be available for them through our business.
“To be clear, we don’t give loans, but we enable credit worthy people to get access to credit through our partners. And right now, we are looking at First Bank and Access Bank, who have jointly pledged N10 billion towards that, while we hope for other pledges to come.”
Ayedun, urged other banks to support the initiative by increasing credit to good borrowers, and urged consumers to “take advantage of the opportunity to get their credit history through CreditRegistry’s as that they can have access to loans provided by partner banks.
Speaking about the company, the Chairman of CreditRegistry Captain Adeyemi Dare said: “CreditRegistry Nigeria, officially registered and licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria as CR Services (Credit Bureau) Plc, is Nigeria’s preferred credit bureau. Our company, in strategic technical partnership with CreditRegistry Corporation USA (“CRUSA”), has laid the foundation for fraud-proof, large-scale consumer and small business credit in Nigeria. We pioneered the world’s first integration of advanced biometric technology into a credit bureau system.”
