By HELEN ZULU –
AB BANK Zambia has signed a 3 million Euros micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) investment bond with the European Investment bank (EIB) aimed at enhancing AB bank’s support to MSMEs.
AB bank deputy chief executive officer Jessica Schicks said the EIB had extended a loan facility of 3 million Euros to AB bank to enable the bank further step up its support to Zambia’s MSMEs.
Dr Schicks said the offer of the EIB was of particular value to financial institutions in an environment of a volatile currency as it was granting lending facilities in local currency.
She said this at the signing ceremony between AB bank and EIB of the 3 million euro MSME investment bond in Lusaka on Friday.
“AB bank Zambia has a specialised unit for SME lending with a team that understands the needs of SME clients and can channel the EIB’s funds to the right beneficiaries.
“The facility is coming at the right time when AB bank enhances its lending to SME clients,” Dr Schicks said.
She further disclosed that the bank which was celebrating 20 years of operations in Zambia had recorded strong growth reaching a total number of 58,000 clients as of September 2015.
Dr Schicks who is also the Chief operations officer said the bank’s loan portfolio stood at K74.4 million while the deposit balance was K39.5 million.
She said the bank was also intending to open three more branches in Kitwe on the Copperbelt, Kafue in Lusaka Province and Chipata in Eastern Province.
Speaking at the same function, EIB head of regional representation Southern and Indian ocean, Carmelo Cocuzza said, EIB was committed to supporting Zambia and fostering financial inclusion.
Mr Cocuzza said with this facility, AB bank would be able to give loans in local currency adding that,  clients would not have to hustle to change the money.
He said this support would be available for two to five years depending on the demand from the clients.
Mr Cocuzza said the funding would also enable AB Bank Zambia to provide capacity building for its employees and training programmes for SMEs on business planning.