Stanbic Bank Uganda has announced a new value proposition aimed at revitalizing the operations for Savings and Credit Cooperative Organizations (SACCOs) and Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) across Uganda.
Emma Mugisha, Stanbic Bank Executive Director, said the move will help make SACCOs and VSLAs more appealing to their members and other stakeholders by giving greater focus on three key areas namely, lending, investments and savings.
Mugisha said, “This new proposition shows our unwavering commitment to supporting economic growth in the country through supporting various critical sectors. Many Ugandans have joined savings and loans groups in order to source funding for their income generating projects.
The Stanbic proposition will enable SACCOs and VSLAs to access loans so that they in turn can lend to their members and create opportunities for growth and social economic transformation. It will also support financial inclusion drives in the country.”
The bank plans to reach out to SACCOs registered by the Ministry of Trade Industry and Cooperatives as well as VSLAs regulated by the Ministry of Labour and Gender.
Beneficiaries will be offered an opportunity to open a SACCO Account which features free cash and cheque deposits, free transfers into the account from members and free cash withdrawals.
Other benefits of the account include, free online banking, no monthly management fees, tiered interest paid on balances above UGX10 million, financial literacy sessions for both management and selected members, as well as participation in capacity building programmes at the Stanbic Business Incubator.
In addition, the bank is quoting an affordable 12.5% interest rate, for an unsecured term loan of up to UGX200 million with a tenor of not more than 12 months. The other option is a secured term loan of up to UGX1.5 billion with a tenor of between 12 and 36 months maximum.
As a benefit, the Bank will offer insurance cover for SACCOs in four different categories depending on their need. The first one is, Personal Accident Insurance. Under this, the Sum Insured per member is UGX10,000,000 with the Annual Premium being UGX41,506.5.
The other cover is Funeral, with a [Funeral] benefit per member being UGX2,000,000 and a monthly premium of UGX1,963.05. The other product is Credit Life; under this, the Bank would pay out outstanding loan amount for a SACCO member upon death or permanent Total Disability.
The premium for this product would be calculated basing on the outstanding loan amount. The Bank would also offer agriculture insurance, which is already happening under One Farm Initiative.
Raising awareness about SACCO and VSLA operations through a series of financial literacy training sessions is another benefit that comes with opening the account.
Digitizing SACCOs
Through a platform dubbed Mobis, a microfinance platform used by SACCOs (developed by Ensibuuko), the Bank would provide core banking capabilities including savings account management, credit and cash management, back-office accounting and financial reporting, deposit/withdrawals from the SACCO account and more.
In addition, the Bank would serve SACCOs through Flexipay wallet – an electronic wallet designed to meet the needs of customers using smart (App) and feature (USSD) mobile phones combined with agent, merchant and ATM channels.
This Wallet would serve as a One stop transactional gateway with the phone aiding deposits, withdrawals at cash ATMs, Agents.
Stanbic Bank Uganda is part of the Standard Bank Group, Africa’s largest bank by assets. Standard Bank Group reported total assets R2.3 trillion (about USD163 billion) at 31 December 2019, while its market capitalization was R277 billion (USD20 billion).