Stanbic Bank Launches A Report To Society With The Client At The Centre

Stanbic Bank, with Stanbic Foundation, has launched a report that shows their banking journey within and without Kenya, as well as the impact in socioeconomic activities with the promise of always placing the client at the center of their operations.

“Placing the client at the center of our vision to imbed our Social, Economic and Environmental Value creation, we empower our client service teams and leverage our value-driven culture to deliver on the key matters that we feel our stakeholders deem to be the most important to our business performance, and the creation of returns to society,” said the lender in the report.

According to Stanbic Bank, financial inclusion is key for the development of any sector within a nation. The bank says that it is committed to having and sustaining improved levels of financial fitness among its client and staff. In the report, the bank says it has always had a “focus on women empowerment to realize increased levels of social return.”

Financial inclusion supports economic and human development and reduces inequality. Achieving financial inclusion requires that individuals and businesses have access to applicable and affordable financial products and services that meet their needs, delivered in a responsible and sustainable way. This includes payments, savings, credit, and insurance.

Kenya thrives on the wheels of small businesses, otherwise known as SMEs. The SME employs at least 86 percent of Kenya’s population and contributes at least 45.5 percent to Kenya’s gross domestic product.

In the past few years, however, the SME sector has been on the brink of dying. Stats from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) showed that at least 450,000 SMEs were dying annually, 30,000 monthly, and 1,000 daily.

With the coming of Covid-19, with millions of businesses shutting down around the world, and with millions losing their jobs, things are tough for the majority of SMEs in Kenya. Most of them are struggling to remain afloat.

It is in the spirit of protecting the SME sector through job creation and enterprise development that Stanbic Bank banks to support millions of Kenyans. According to the lender, SME development is key to fostering enterprise growth and job creation.

“Focus should be on assessing how to stimulate this sector directly, in our supply chain and in the supply chain of our corporate clients,” says the bank in the report released on Wednesday at Kempinski Hotel, Nairobi.

The bank has also promised to continue sustaining infrastructure through the provision of funding mechanisms, support efforts to in climate change, and promote education and skill development, as well as health.

“Protection of our clients’ overall physical well-being is also important to ensure financial fitness and long-term social and economic returns to society,” says the lender.

According to Mr. Charles Mudiwa, the CE at Stanbic Bank, the bank “places significant importance to driving growth in Kenya that creates sustainable value to stakeholders, creates opportunities especially for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), youth and women, supports the national development priorities, enables financial inclusion and empowers communities.”

“At the time of preparing this report, we are in the midst of a global health pandemic, occasioned by Covid-19 which has had far-reaching impacts on business, the economy, and communities. The Kenyan economy is expected to bear the brunt of this pandemic, not only through the inevitable direct impacts on health, manufacturing, tourism, and labor but also through a slowdown in key economic sectors.

As a financial institution, we have responded to this novel challenge by ensuring we support and protect the health and wellbeing of our employees, clients, suppliers, partners, and vulnerable communities.

The safety of our employees and clients is something that we care deeply about and we strongly encourage clients to use Stanbic’s suite of digital banking tools for their financial needs, whether this is from a personal or business perspective.

Digital platforms provide an efficient, fast, safe, and nearly instantaneous solution to many, if not all of your daily banking requirements, away from public spaces,” said Mr. Mudiwa.

READ: Stanbic Bank Kenya Signs A Partnership With TradeSun To Implement AI