Access Bank, a major player in the Nigerian banking sector, has just received a US$100m loan from the Dutch development bank, FMO. Proparco has contributed US$25m of this amount. This credit facility will enable Access Bank to finance agricultural businesses and boost a key sector in Nigeria’s economic and social development.
Agriculture continues to be the economic backbone of a majority of Nigerians, employing over half of the country’s active population.
Enable Access Bank to offer agricultural businesses long-term funding
However, investment is being held back by a shortage of credit. Proparco’s funding will enable Access Bank to offer agricultural businesses long-term funding – a scarce commodity on the Nigerian market. The aim is to provide financing for stakeholders throughout the production chain, i.e. from planting to primary processing.
By boosting funding to agri-food businesses, this operation will help to modernise the sector and create direct jobs (Access Bank currently employs over 3,000 people, 44% of whom are women) and indirect jobs by partnering with local employers.
Nigeria’s fourth-largest bank
Access Bank is Nigeria’s fourth-largest bank and one of Africa’s top 20 banks; it has a network of over 300 domestic branches and seven foreign subsidiaries. In the agri-food sector, it partners with SMEs, cooperatives and big business, with a special focus on plantations and primary processing industries.
This is the second time Proparco has supported Access Bank : in 2012, Proparco granted a US$15m credit line to finance SMEs in countries where Access Bank PLC does business.
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