Stanbic Bank moves to support Saccos, village saving groups
Stanbic Bank Uganda has announced a new effort aimed at revitalising the operations for Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisations (SACCOs) and Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) across Uganda.
Emma Mugisha, the head of Client Solutions at Stanbic Bank 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.
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"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," said Mugisha.
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 Gender, Labour and Social Development.
Officials explained that beneficiaries will be offered an opportunity to open a SACCO account.
This will feature 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 shs10 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 shs200 million with a tenor of not more than 12 months.
The other option is a secured term loan of up to Shs1.5 billion with a tenor of between 12 and 36 months maximum.
Through a platform dubbed Mobis, officials said that a microfinance platform used by SACCOs, the bank will 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.
