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| George Oko-Oboh. |
Heritage Bank Plc has affirmed that adequate agricultural financing is critical in defining Nigeria’s trade competitiveness, which guarantees sustainable agricultural systems, generates foreign exchange – a critical aspect that equips the financial sector to respond to changing market requirements and address critical sector needs for global competitiveness.
The Executive Director of Heritage Bank Plc, George Oko-Oboh
disclosed this, during the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria’s
(CIBN)15th Annual Banking and Finance Conference, tagged: “Repositioning the
Financial Services Industry for an Evolving Global Context” in Abuja.
He
disclosed that Heritage Bank has been at the forefront of financing Agric value
chains that have upped its competitiveness in the global market and helping to
boost local production, conserve scarce foreign exchange and enhance food
security, and ultimately result in the creation of hundreds of new jobs.
According
to Oko-Oboh, the bank’s involvement in the sector dated back to many years ago
and it has always been at the forefront of ensuring overall growth and
development of commodities products in Nigeria. For these feats, Heritage Bank
disbursed the CBN’s N41billion intervention in wheat production in Nigeria for
commodity associations and anchor companies.
“We
have continued to create market linkages between smallholders’ farmers and
Anchors/Processors, create an ecosystem that drives value chain financing,
improve access to credit by the smallholders’ farmers by developing credit
history through the scheme and many more.
“As
a Bank, we partnered CBN and other stakeholders such as wheat farmers
association of Nigeria, wheat farmers, processors and marketers’ association of
Nigeria, Lake Chad Research Institute and other development partners, flour
mills of Nigeria and several seed companies and others to support over 100,000
farmers in wheat production.
“Also,
Heritage Bank further factored consideration of value addition of financial
services and products flowing to and/or through value chain participants to
address and alleviate constraints to growth that have distorted product
financing, receivables financing, physical-asset collateralization, risk
mitigation products and financial enhancements,” said the executive director.
Also,
the Chairman, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, Farouk Gumel has said Nigerian banks
must invest in modernising agriculture, helping it to be more resilient, more
dynamic and better able to adapt for the banking sector to favourably compete
in the evolving global context. “Modernisation means much more than technology
alone. It is also about farming techniques, he said.
Gumel
noted, “to reposition the industry for a ‘Glocal context, we need also to look
more inwards,” saying repositioning is not an option. It is a necessity
Nigerian has begun an agricultural renaissance over the past seven years. To be
truly Glocal, we must commit the same resources and investments to rural-local
customers as we have done to urban global clients.”
He
agreed that the local players must keep an eye on what global happenings to
stay in tune with international best practices, while asking that local/rural
farmers should never be forgotten.
President/chairman
of council for CIBN Dr. Ken Opara said the financial services industry needs to
adapt to much faster pace of change in advancement in technology and
innovation, saying services, products, and technologies that were new and
useful in the past will not necessarily be so soon.
Opara
said advancement in technology and innovation is bringing about another wave of
revolution that will change the landscape of the financial services sector more
than ever.
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