By NKIRUKA NNOROM

Shareholders of NPF Micro-Finance Bank have commended the bank over its increased lending to the real sector, while urging the management to scale up efforts on branch network expansion.

Speaking at a meeting with the management of the bank, a shareholders activist, Mr. Boniface Okezie, said the drive at providing credit facilities to the private sector was commendable, but urged the bank to ensure that a well thought out plan on loan recovery is instituted.

He said, “Because the banks are not borrowing, the real sector is suffering. Even the banks that are recapitalized are not lending. We commend the board and management for its effort, but you should ensure that such loans are recovered. “No real business man does his business with just his money alone. He needs the banks’ lending. Other banks should take a cue from this and open their doors to the real sector.”

Addressing the members earlier, the Chairperson, Mrs Florence Adebanjo, said, ‘Despite the highly competitive financial terrain and testing operating environment, we continued to grow our lending.”

She informed that the bank’s total client base grew to 80,484, while the number of active borrowers at the end of 2011 was 20,018 resulting in an active loan portfolio of N3.94 billion, representing a growth of 36 per cent from year 2010 figure of N2.892 billion.

Adebanjo stated that the bank is poised to take advantage of the continued demand for its products and services to further grow.

She also stated that the bank intended to grow its lending to support micro entrepreneurs, saying that they believe the measure would guarantee long term economic development, adding that it would aided by the bank’s strategy on branch network expansion and creation of new products.

“With the commencement of the CBN’s cashless policy, the global move to electronic and mobile payment in providing financial services to serve the unbanked provides an opportunity for us to improve on our service delivery through technology.

“We are leveraging these electronic channels in conjunction with one of our correspondent banks to ensure that our customers have access to good quality financial service through POS devises, ATMs and other mobile payment solutions,” she added.