Barclays Bank has announced a Sh30billion war chest to lend to the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), as the bank moves to tap into the market that has been dominated by micro lenders.
The bank Tuesday said it had dropped some of the stringent requirements that lenders demand from the SME market. For example, borrowers will no longer need to have audited financial statements to access the loans.
“Most of these SMEs don’t have audited accounts. We didn’t have a product before and that is why some walked into our bank but walked away without one but now we are open for business,” Barclays Bank Managing Director Jeremy Awori said at a media briefing.
The bank however did not give a specific rate it will be charging on these loans on grounds that different customers have different credit worthiness.
Barclays Bank becomes the fourth major bank to set aside a lump sum for lending to SMEs after equity Bank, KCB and Chase Bank.
