Union Bank To Support SMEs With N72 Billion Fund

By Augustine Adah

Union Bank has announced the receipt of a $200m (N72 billion) package for onward lending to Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, SMEs through a partnership with a United States corporation.

The bank in a statement obtained by GWG said the partnership is in agreement with Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the US government’s finance institution.

Under the terms of the agreement, Union Bank will receive a 10-year term loan of up to $200m from OPIC for investments in digitisation, on-lending to the Small and Medium Enterprises and funding for women-led businesses.

Speaking on the new deal, Chief Executive Officer, Union Bank, Emek Emuwa, disclosed that the partnership would enable the bank to penetrate into the large segment of the society who are operators of SMEs.

He said, “We welcome this partnership with OPIC as we are well-positioned in Nigeria to further advance lending to key segments of the population, especially SMEs.

‘The 10-year tenor of the OPIC facility provides flexibility to maximise impact across key sectors of the Nigerian economy as we continue to advance proven initiatives including those focused on women’s banking and financial inclusion.”

The statement further indicated that this was part of OPIC’s 2X Women’s initiative which aimed to catalyse $1bn for investment in women across developing nations.

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