Ololade Adeyanju/
The Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) has approved the disbursement of N1.6 billion to LivingTrust Mortgage Bank Plc for on-lending to Micro Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (MSMEs).
This was contained in a letter from DBN to the management of the mortgage bank, dated April 27, 2022.
DBN had in March, 2021, disbursed the first tranche of the fund to the bank.
The letter with reference number: DBN/LTMB/007/04/2022, notified LivingTrust of the upward review of its credit limit to N1.6 billion for on-lending to prequalified MSMEs/Small Corporates.
The letter, which was jointly signed by Bonaventure Okhaimo, Chief Operations Officer and Tony Okpanachi, MD/CEO of DBN, reads in part:
“We are pleased to advise you that the Board of DBN has approved a review of your Credit limit to N1,612,078,500.00 for on-lending to prequalified (MSMEs/Small Corporates).
“This commitment is however subject to the full satisfaction of the terms and conditions precedent to disbursement communicated in your previous offer, and the execution of a Supplementary Lending Agreement setting out the detailed terms of the loan to the end-borrowers.”
Commenting on the review, the bank’s Managing Director, Mr Adekunle Adewole, said in a statement that the development was further to the appointment of LivingTrust as a partner bank for the development of the MSME sector by DBN on November 16, 2020.
He further noted, “This development places LivingTrust among the few banks considered by DBN as possessing the requisite financial strength and governance structure to manage the MSMEs funds. There is no better pointer to our prudence in utilizing the funds earlier disbursed than this enhancement.
“The partnership would further enable the bank to provide funding solutions in nurturing its growing MSME customer base.”
He also disclosed that the bank had disbursed various amounts to over 500 MSMEs since the commencement of the scheme last year.
In the letter appointing LivingTrust Mortgage Bank as a participating financial institution, DBN had described it as one of the few banks that “scaled the qualification criteria, based on a strong balance sheet, board/management profile and sound corporate governance practices”.
LivingTrust Mortgage Bank provides mortgage products which include national housing fund, mortgage loans, commercial mortgages, property acquisition loans and other financial services, and caters to customers in Nigeria and Nigerians in the diaspora.
DBN was established in September 2014 by the Federal Government in partnership with several International Finance Institutions namely the World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB), KfW Development Bank (Germany), Agence Fran aise de D veloppement (AfD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), to address the major financing challenges facing Micro Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria.
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