Financial service firms link up

GABORONE-LISTED pan-African financial services provider Letshego Holdings said on Friday it had bought Afb, a financial services firm that provided innovative credit products to consumers in Ghana, its second West African acquisition. A statement from the group with consumer lending, microfinance and deposit-taking subsidiaries across southern, East and West Africa, said Afb had a profitable business model focused on government deduction-at-source lending. Afb, a licensed non-bank financial institution, offered credit products to more than 60000 customers via a network of more than 25 branch and customer access points. Its products include deduction-at-source and direct loans to salaried employees, and SmartCash loans to informal and market traders. Afb also offers credit life insurance on selected products, and is a licensed deposit-taking institution. Letshego said it would look to leverage the deposit-taking capability to enhance its financial inclusion agenda in Ghana. This deal comes after the acquisition of Letshego Nigeria MFB (formerly FBN Microfinance Bank) in 2015. Letshego now has operations in 11 sub-Saharan countries and raises its customer base to over 480 000 people. Letshego said Afb’s delivery of responsible lending services by leveraging technology to drive access, simplicity and customer satisfaction aligned with its inclusive finance agenda. – ANA