Firstbank Sustains Financial Inclusion Leadership as Firstmonie Agents Hit over 1billion Transactions
First Banks‘s leading role as a financial inclusion enabler through the Firstmonie Agents banking innovation in the Nigerian market has continued to gain momentum.
This is as it announced that Firstmonie Agents – spread across the nook and cranny of the country, has collectively processed transaction volume in excess of 1 billion, amounting to over 22 trillion naira.
The premier lender currently has over 180,000 Firstmonie Agents, spread across the country’s 772 Local Government Areas.
Firstmonie Agents have been integral to bringing financial services closer to the underbanked and unbanked segment of 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.
Popularly referred to as the ‘Human ATM’, Firstmonie Agents are empowered to reduce the reliance on over-the-counter transactions while providing convenient personalized services. Amongst the services carried out by the Agents include; Account Opening, Cash Deposit, Airtime Purchase, Bills Payment, Withdrawals and Money Transfer.
Through 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 remained a toast to Nigerians, irrespective of where they are in the country. Amongst these schemes is the Agent Credit – launched in 2020 – which has had the Bank provide credit facilities to the tune of 238 billion naira to its teeming Firstmonie Agents.
Expressing his appreciation to the Agents, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, CEO, FirstBank said “since the relaunch of our Agent Banking scheme in 2018, our Firstmonie Agents have played a vital role in bridging the financial inclusion gap in the country, as many more people have been able 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 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 concluded.
