United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) and DEG  – Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH, the German Development Finance Institution, recently signed a USD 50m Term Facility Agreement.

The facility has a tenor of six years and supports UBA’s lending activities to small and medium entities and family owned businesses in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

UBA is a leading pan-African financial services group with presence in 20 African countries, as well as the UK, the US and France. It has become one of the top providers of banking and other financial services on the African continent. The bank provides services to over 25 million customers in retail, commercial and corporate market segments spread across 23 countries. The shares of UBA are publicly traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). Its diversified shareholder base includes institutional investors, as well as individual shareholders.

Bernhard Tilemann, DEG’s Regional Director for West Africa, commented: “DEG is delighted to enter into a long-term cooperation with UBA in Nigeria and the region. This cooperation will address the current economic challenges of the country while fostering private sector growth and impact in the largest economy of the continent. It is a major milestone for DEG’s Regional Representative Office in Lagos opened in 2019.” Apart from the office in Lagos, DEG offices on the African continent are located in Abidjan, Johannesburg and Nairobi.

“At UBA Group, we are proud of this collaboration with DEG, particularly as it supports our financial intervention in the SME space, enabling financial inclusion, as well as facilitating economic empowerment. These objectives remain core aspects of our strategy, particularly as regards to facilitating the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals on the African continent,” said Sola Yomi-Ajayi, CEO of UBA America and Global Head for Financial Institutions, Multilateral and Development Organizations.

The funding provided by DEG is partly supported by the EB Fund, a 100% subsidiary of Evangelische Bank (EB), Protestant Church of Germany available to institutional & private investors.