The management of United Capital Group (UCL) has said the Group’s decision to introduce UCEE Microfinance Bank into the nation’s financial service sector is to enable it leverage technology and finance, to reach the financially-excluded in Nigeria.
Speaking at the official launch of the digital -first microfinance bank on Monday, the Group CEO, United Capital Group, Peter Ashade, expressed concerns that as at 2023, according to a reliable data, over 40 million Nigerian adults remained financially excluded from the nation’s financial services ecosystem.
He explained that the birth of UCEE MFB is one of the Group’s responses to such data, since it is aimed at deepening financial inclusion in the country, in tune with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) effort.
Ashade expressed delight that the UC Group, which started with four businesses in 2013, has added three more businesses, a development he stated, has given it an impact and more influence in its Capital market activities.
The UCG’ s boss therefore expressed the Group’s determination to replicate the feats and successes it had garnered over the years, in the life of the newly- launched mfb.
While expressing the Group’s gratitude to the UCEE Micro Finance Bank’s team, Ashade also noted that the unwavering drive of Tony Elumelu, the Chairman of Heirs Holdings, for financial inclusion as a tool for economic empowerment, as the inspiration behind the launch of the mfb.
“The coming on board of UCEE Microfinance Bank marks a significant milestone in the nation’s financial services industry. Besides being the unveiling of the mfb, it also marks the beginning of a vision that aimed to redefine banking experience in Nigeria and bring about positive changes in the lives of the people,” he added.
Also speaking at the event, the MD/CEO, UCEE MFB, Esther Adeola-Balogun, stated that one of the intentions behind the birth of the new micro finance bank is to bridge the gap between the traditional mfb and the digital mfb, with the aim of democratising financial services in Nigeria.
She added that though a hybrid mfb, combining technology with finance, the bank still remains focused in its vision of getting to the unreached, in the nation’s financial services industry, especially the rural dwellers.
One of the ways the new mfb intends to achieve that, she stated, is through its mobile application, a one- stop shop for all the bank’s products and services.
She added that the mfb would soon be launching a USSD that will make those in the rural areas, and the not-too-tech-savvy, have access to its products and services irrespective of their locations.
In his remarks, the Chairman, Heirs Holdings, Tony Elumelu congratulated the managements of the UCG PLC and UCEE Microfinance Bank for their contributions to the deepening of the nation’s financial services industry through the advent of UCEE.
He expressed the strong belief that the new microfinance bank would go a long way in empowering many Nigerians and spread prosperity among them.
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