The First MicroFinanceBank Ltd (FMFB) was established in 2002 as the first private sector, nationwide microfinance bank in the regulated sector, with a strategic goal to reach out to those who are not able to receive adequate financial services.
Through targeted financial and multi-sectoral products and services based on the evolving needs of the financially excluded population, FMFB enables its clients to strengthen their entrepreneurial base and build financial, physical, and human capital to secure their future.
FMFB has established its presence throughout the country, in rural as well as urban areas, to effectively reach its target market segments. Currently, FMFB operates through a network of 213 locations. Over the past 20 years, FMFB had a cumulative disbursement of over PKR 194 billion to more than 3.8 million borrowers and a deposit base of PKR 79 billion.
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The Bank’s customer base represents a population without or with limited access to financial services from the formal financial sector. FMFB was among the first banks to provide an effective financial intermediation service to the underprivileged community of Pakistan to encourage financial inclusion.
FMFB’s vision does not stop here; this is just the first step in improving the quality of life digitally, where the Bank’s focus on consumer awareness will help raise confidence of the masses on digital financial channels.
FMFB believes that these measures will act as a catalyst in reaching out to the financially excluded by providing easy access to their banking needs. By adopting the innovative digitalized services, FMFB has significantly increased its customer base and plays a key part in the National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2020, as well as redefining the image of e-banking.
A vast majority of the unbanked population lives in the rural, remote areas of Pakistan; cognizant of the needs of these vulnerable groups, FMFB, along with its diverse product suite, has introduced numerous Digital Access Channels to provide them with accessible digital financial services.
House Loans under Government Markup Subsidy Scheme
Taking forward the government’s vision of ‘Mera Pakistan, Mera Ghar’ to facilitate individuals to construct/ purchase their own residential property, FMFB was one of the first microfinance banks to launch a customised loan product under tier zero, namely Government Mark-up Subsidy Scheme (GMSS) Product to offer home loans to its customers.
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The product has been designed to cater to first-time homeowners so they can have convenient and affordable access to finance to build their own homes and improve their living standards. GMSS Product is a long-term loan facility offered to customers at highly subsidised rates.
While the government has played its role in making the product affordable, FMFB envisages playing an effective role in spreading awareness about the facility and creating conducive conditions to increase its uptake. GMSS Product is available at all branches of FMFB.
In this regard, apart from using conventional and social media channels to create awareness about loans under GMSS Product, FMFB also used its banking on wheels facility to travel across the country, making stops at urban and rural centers to educate people about the loan facility. The vehicle traveled across all major districts of Punjab and is now bound toward Gilgit-Baltistan area via Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The outcome of the Bank’s commitment to make the GMSS successful and the resultant aggressive marketing thereof was amazing. GMSS Product was launched in June 2021. With more than six hundred million approved/disbursed to more than three hundred and fifty clients, we are already ahead of other MFBs and most commercial banks.
But, our resolve to work with the government on a noble mission of putting a roof of their own on the heads of homeless families remains too strong to keep us satisfied with anything lesser than being the best amongst all stakeholders.
It will be in the fitness of things to be mentioned here that FMFB has been actively involved in supporting the lower-income segment of the society to have, or improve, their own home since long. At the moment, our house loan disbursements, other than GMSS Product, stand at more than PKR 4 billion across the country.
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Now, FMFB looks forward to playing its role even more effectively in solving the housing problem of the low-income group of the country, which also constitutes a pillar of the FMFB Social Responsibility Policy, while working in partnership with the Government of Pakistan under the banner of Mera Pakistan, Mera Ghar Program.