Date: 2021-07-18

In a bid to create more efficient and agile branches, which are closer to the financially excluded members of society, Advans Nigeria has launched two new cashless centres in Offa, Kwara State, and Iseyin, Oyo State.

Advans La Fayette Microfinance Bank said the centres were aimed at creating more efficient and agile branches and making them accessible to the financially excluded members of society.

It added that the two new agile branches had brought the number of Advans cashless centres serving hundreds of financially underserved in Nigeria to three, with a total of 17 branches, according to a statement titled, 'Advans La Fayette Microfinance Bank launches cashless centres in Offa, Iseyin.'

The bank's MD/CEO, Gaetan Debuchy, said, "The expansion is one of the company's innovative approaches to providing seamless, affordable and transparent financial services to micro, small and medium scale enterprises in the nooks and crannies of Nigeria.

"It will help us as a bank to make more impact with fewer resources so as not to increase the cost of service to clients."

Debuchy added that Advans was a model microfinance institution that had continued to promote private sector-led economic and social development in Nigeria and nine other countries.

The world is going cashless; are you ready? Cashless Christmas: Frustration, anguish as ATMs dispense less cash Also, the Chief of Business and Strategy, Elvis Oheneba, explained that proximity to small businesses, and convenience for individuals and business owners, were considered in selecting the location of the centres adding that, "we intend to increase the number of cashless branches from three to six by the end of 2021".

The DCEO, Jean-Luc Nzoubou, who also oversees the business activities for the bank network across Nigeria, said 'a cashless centre' could do everything a full branch could do.

Nzoubou said, "Customers can apply for loans, open savings and current accounts, get access to business advisory, and also carry out other transactions without having to travel long distances. Furthermore, the cashless centres will also provide an extensive array of other products and services and wealth management services which underscores the bank's mission to provide client-centric financial services to underserved populations in a sustainable and responsible manner."