Africa's best bank for SMEs 2017: Guaranty Trust Bank

Lending to small and medium-sized enterprises is an important part of banking in Africa, and an area of business that requires ever more support from the continent’s banks. Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) dominated the sector over the last year and so wins the title of best bank for SMEs. 

GTBank defines SMEs as firms with an annual turnover of up to N500 million ($1.6 million). Revenue derived from such firms still makes up a small proportion of GTBank’s overall income, but it grew substantially year on year, from 2.3% in 2015 to 4.5% in 2016. As a percentage of total assets, SME loans grew from 2.5% to 3.5%.

GTBank has devoted substantial resources to SME work: 178 employees work exclusively on SMEs in Abuja, Lagos and the southeast of Nigeria. GTBank participates in the voluntary Small and Medium Enterprises Equity Investment scheme, by which it sets aside 10% of its profits after tax for equity investment and promotion of SMEs

The bank is also promoting SMEs in new ways through, for example, the SME MarketHub, a free online platform where SMEs can sell their products.