CBN Grants La Fayette National MFB Operating Licence

Advans-La Fayette Microfinance Bank has secured a national microfinance banking licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria.

A member of the Advans Group, La Fayette was licenced as a financial institution by the central bank in 2012 and has been offering a complete range of financial services for its customers including savings accounts, current accounts and fixed deposit accounts.

Over the years, the bank has grown to be one of Nigeria’s leading microfinance banks fully committed to responding to the needs for financial services of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and other members of the public who have little or limited access to formal financial services through provision of tailored financial services in a sustainable and responsible manner.

Speaking to newsmen on the acquisition of the licence, the Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Guillaume Valence, averred that micro, small and medium enterprises are the major contributors to growth and economic development as well as the first employer in Nigeria.

He, however, lamented that that they lacked the financial support to develop their businesses.

“They still lack both the necessary business and financial support to develop their activities. By supporting this population, Advans-La Fayette MFB is contributing to the national objective to reduce financial exclusion rate to 20 per cent by 2020.

“Moreover, Advans-La Fayette MFB has implemented the international best practices when it comes to client protection principles and contributes significantly to the financial literacy of its clients,” Valence stated.

He added that bank has demonstrated great resistance and resilience to a challenging economic environment and has consistently grown its client base and outstanding loan portfolio over the years.

Giving a load-down, he explained that as at December 2018, the bank had disbursed 63,913 loans for a total of N27.9. He also disclosed that the group served more than 900,000 clients and employed over 6,800 staffs, with a gross loan portfolio of €880 million and a total of €510 million deposits.

Valence added that being a national microfinance bank, the financial institution would be able to deepen its outreach contributing to the central bank’s financial inclusion objective across the country, expanding the provision of microfinance services to Ilorin, Kwara State which would be the first branch outside Oyo State.