Barclays Bank targets SMEs with asset finance facility

Kenya: Barclays Bank has launched an Asset Finance Centre of Excellence in a move aimed at deepening its penetration of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) sector in Kenya.

Managing Director Jeremy Awori said asset finance has been a significant growth area in the last five years, adding that the market is currently valued at Sh100 billion.

"With our new Centre of Excellence, we believe that we are going to significantly drive asset growth in such areas as transport and manufacturing industries," he said.

The SME sector contributes over 60 per cent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and more than 80 per cent of all new jobs, making a key driver of our economy.

The centre is a one-stop-shop facility which will provide customers with asset finance solutions for the purchase of motor vehicles, construction equipment, industrial plant and machinery, agricultural equipment as well as office and IT-based equipment.

The bank will use imaging technology to provide linkages between the centre and its branches countrywide, a move that will also slash credit approval time by half, to two working days.

In addition, the bank will no longer require enterprise customers to provide audited financial statements for asset-based credit requests of up to Sh15 million. It will instead rely on non-financial behavioural scorecards to assess these requests.