Sterling Bank has extended access to Specta, its online lending platform to people engaged in personal businesses.
Divisional Head, Retail and Consumer Banking of Sterling Bank, Shina Atilola, who disclosed this at a news conference to mark the first year of Specta operation in Lagos, said the extension is due to the platform’s capacity to pre-screen borrowers, and safely provide them with faster approvals and funding.
He said Sterling Bank is keen to position Specta as Nigeria’s fastest lending platform, as part of its strong desire to empower businesses and enable startups.
Atiola, while fielding questions from journalists on how Sterling Bank hopes to attract and accommodate more customers on Specta, said the bank plans to achieve this through the use of social media, while relying on a credit bureaux to ascertain the customer’s character and capacity.
She added that the bank decided to expand the coverage of the product to accommodate more customers outside its own because of the yearnings of other potential customers.
Also speaking, the Head, Value Chain Banking, Benedicta Sadoh, said Sterling Bank offered about N10 billion in loans to more than 11,000 customers, while also introducing credit cards, among §year .
She added that the bank is looking at giving out N40 billion in loans to 50,000 customers this year, adding that all the loans granted through the platform are performing well.
She said the second anniversary of the product will be flagged off this week, and any customer that joins the scheme between February 4th and 14th would enjoy a discount interest rate of about 1.29 percent.
Specta is an instant lending platform that offers consumer loans of up to N5 million in five minutes.
The lending platform uses proprietary data and analytics to process and disburse consumer loans to salary earners, who belong to pre-approved communities in less than five minutes without paper work and collateral.
The types of loans offered include personal, payday, wedding finance, rent, education and medical finance loans, among others, to salary earners.
Specta automates, simplifies, and personalises the loan application, disbursement and receipt process, while eliminating the slow turnaround time and other inconveniences associated with the manual process.
