Standard Chartered completes country’s first automated over-the-weekend loan disbursement for Nestlé

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Standard Chartered Bangladesh has completed the country's first automated over-the-weekend loan disbursement under its distributor finance programme.

The first client to receive the funds from a distributor financing loan on a weekend was Nestlé Bangladesh Ltd, said a press release.

According to the media release, it has been a long-standing demand from clients to arrange for disbursement of loans during the weekends. Distributors need goods delivery during weekend, but as manufacturers do not deliver the goods until they receive the funds, the clients had to draw the loans on Thursday. Now, through the disbursement of over-the-weekend automated loans, distributors will be able to drawdown the loan as and when required and will be able to save interest expense.

The bank was the first in the country to launch a fully automated, online distributor financing programme called Flexiloan in 2018. It has now introduced enhanced capabilities enabling drawdown of these loans in the weekends as well. This enhancement will empower distributors, which are usually small and medium enterprises, by giving them access to finance seven days of the week.

Luthful Arefin Khan, head of Transaction Banking, Standard Chartered Bangladesh said, "We started our distributor financing programme with the goal to support small and medium enterprises (SME) who are distributors for our corporate clients. Through this programme, the distributors not only benefit from the collateral-free structure and competitive pricing, but also learn financial discipline and proper book-keeping.  

We understand that these loans are very time-critical, which is why we have made the disbursement fully automated and fully online. I would like to thank Nestlé Bangladesh for inspiring us to make this enhancement. I congratulate them on becoming the first client to drawdown these loans on a weekend."

Deepal Abeywickrema, managing director, Nestlé Bangladesh Limited said, "Nestlé Bangladesh Limited has been the pioneer in Customer Financing in Bangladesh with Standard Chartered Bank (SCB). I am excited to see the rollout of another "industry first" innovative solution, focused on "Customer Centricity," together by Nestlé Bangladesh Limited and Standard Chartered Bank.

The new solution will help us enhance the freshness and greatly improve the service level of our customers in bringing high-quality and world-class products to our consumers. I am sure this will be another great tool that other SMEs can equally benefit from. I thank SCB for being at the forefront of new advancements in banking solutions with Nestlé Bangladesh Limited."

Standard Chartered is a multinational universal bank in Bangladesh, with over 117 years of presence in the nation. The bank has been a committed partner in progress to Bangladesh, facilitating major investments in power, energy, transportation, and urban development. It accounted for a major share of all export and import financing, respectively, last year, as well as power generation financing and SME lending by foreign banks.

It commands a leading position in the retail finance space, with strong share of card spend, consistently growing internet banking users, and the launch of several innovative products. Over the years, the bank continued its pioneering streak with a number of firsts for the country, including the first green bond, the first green zero-coupon bond, the first carbon neutral credit card, the first faith-based banking solution that supports customer philanthropy, and the first sustainable trade finance transaction.