By Onome Amuge.
Nigeria’s premier financial services provider, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, has announced that its agent banking network, Firstmonie Agent, has collectively processed transaction volume in excess of one billion, amounting to over N22 trillion.
This was contained in a statement by Folake Ani-Mumuney, group head, marketing and corporate communications of the country’s oldest financial institution.
Ani-Mumuney stated that the financial services were carried out by over 180,000 Firstmonie agents spread across 772 local government areas.
According to the statement, Firstmonie agents have been integral to bringing financial services closer to the underbanked and unbanked segment of the society, providing convenient banking services that are easily accessible, thereby saving time and travel costs for individuals in the suburbs and remote environments with no access to financial services.
Firstmonie agents, popularly referred to as the ‘Human ATM’, have been empowered to reduce the reliance on over-the-counter transactions while providing convenient personalised services.
The bank said this has been made a reality through the establishment of various empowerment and reward schemes implemented to put its Firstmonie agents at an advantage to economically impact their immediate communities whilst importantly having their business sustained. The bank’s agent banking scheme has also remained a toast to Nigerians, irrespective of where they are in the country.
Amongst these schemes is the Agent Credit, launched in 2020, through which the bank has provided credit facilities to the tune of N238 billion to its teeming Firstmonie agents nationwide.
Other services carried out by the agents include account opening, cash deposit, airtime purchase, bills payment, withdrawals and money transfer.
Adesola Adeduntan, CEO, FirstBank, who expressed appreciation to the Firstmonie agents, noted that since the relaunch of the bank’s agent banking scheme in 2018, its Firstmonie agents have played a vital role in bridging the financial inclusion gap in the country.
He added that the service has enabled more people to undertake various financial and business transactions in cost-effective ways, thereby saving a lot of time and money in travelling over long distances for basic banking services.
“We are delighted by the giant strides of our Firstmonie agents in promoting financial inclusion and commend them for their efforts in taking banking to the doorsteps of Nigerians – irrespective of where they are – in a very effective way,” he said.
