Banking
The Inside Story: How Stanbic IBTC’s EVB Programme is Revolutionising Corporate Banking
In today’s rapidly evolving business environment, organisations face heightened competition, shifting workforce expectations, and increasing pressure to optimise productivity. Amid these dynamics, one truth has become increasingly clear: employees’ financial well-being is directly tied to organisational performance.
Employees who are financially secure demonstrate greater commitment, higher productivity, reduced absenteeism, and stronger alignment with company objectives. Conversely, financial stress has emerged as a leading contributor to disengagement, declining morale, and weakened performance across all levels of the workforce.
At Stanbic IBTC, we recognise this critical relationship between employee financial health and business outcomes. This insight led us to engineer Employee Value Banking (EVB)—a strategic, comprehensive, and future-proof solution designed to help organisations strengthen their workforce, elevate their value proposition, and drive long-term business sustainability.
EVB is a transformational partnership model aligning employee wellbeing with corporate productivity, risk reduction, and efficiency.
A Holistic, Employee-Centric Banking Architecture
EVB is built on the understanding that employees across varying grades and income brackets have unique financial realities. By offering a robust suite of banking, investment, insurance, and advisory services tailored to diverse needs, EVB empowers organisations to meaningfully enhance their workforce’s financial security and stability.
Key Components of the EVB Suite
- Digital Unsecured Personal Loans with Flexible Repayment
Employees gain access to seamless, digitally processed loans that allow them to meet immediate financial needs with ease.
Flexible repayment structures reduce financial strain while supporting responsible borrowing behaviour.
- Tailored Savings and Investment Solutions
Through structured savings plans, mutual funds, and diverse investment options, employees are empowered to build wealth over time.
This fosters discipline, long-term planning, and financial resilience.
- Pension and Asset Management Services
With Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers and Stanbic IBTC Asset Management, employees benefit from expert retirement guidance, wealth advisory, and long-term financial structuring—ensuring a secure and predictable future.
- Comprehensive Insurance Cover (Life, Health & Assets)
Employees and their families enjoy protection against major life risks, including health emergencies, life insurance, and property coverage.
This security enhances peace of mind and reduces workplace anxiety.
- Mortgage Support at a Competitive Single-Digit Rate of 9.75%
Homeownership remains a powerful symbol of stability and success.
Through EVB’s highly competitive mortgage solution, 774 families have successfully become homeowners from 2024 to date, demonstrating the program’s profound and measurable impact.
A Structured, Responsible, and Risk-Free Lending Model
One of the core strengths of EVB is its cadre-based lending framework, which aligns all loan offerings with employee grade levels, income bands, and organisational hierarchy. This ensures:
- Responsible and sustainable lending behaviours
- Protection against over-borrowing
- Stronger financial discipline
- Greater alignment with corporate HR structures
What distinctly sets EVB apart is its employer-focused risk mitigation. EVB’s structure ensures employers face no risk, making it uniquely designed for seamless adoption compared to standard banking programs.
All loans provided under the program are fully insured, meaning organisations carry:
- Zero liability
- Zero indemnity exposure
- Zero financial risk
This allows HR and management teams to expand their employee value proposition without adjusting internal financial structures or bearing additional costs.
Beyond Banking: Building a Financially Resilient Workforce
Financial empowerment is not achieved solely through products; it requires education, behavioural change, and consistent guidance.
Further differentiating EVB, Financial Fitness Workshops and complimentary Financial Health Checks are embedded as core components, giving employees ongoing support that competitors rarely offer.
These workshops cover:
- Personal budgeting and cash flow management
- Savings and investment strategies
- Smart debt management
- Retirement and pension planning
- Wealth creation principles
By equipping employees with financial knowledge, organisations reduce anxiety, enhance decision-making, and cultivate a more confident, resilient, and empowered workforce.
A Strategic Partnership That Delivers Sustained Organisational Value
EVB enables organisations to build a healthier, more motivated, and higher-performing workforce.
It is not a product—it is a strategic collaboration that enhances organisational culture, strengthens HR capability, and improves employer brand reputation.
Through EVB, organisations benefit from:
- Higher employee engagement
- Improved productivity and performance
- Reduced financial stress across all workforce levels
- Enhanced talent attraction and retention
- A stronger, richer reward and well-being structure
- A fully digital, modern, and efficient employee banking experience
EVB reflects Stanbic IBTC’s long-standing commitment to supporting organisations by empowering the individuals who drive their success.
Employee Value Banking (EVB) is a pivotal advancement in corporate banking. Where traditional bank–corporate relationships focused on organisational accounts and financial transactions, EVB introduces a holistic, human-centric model that puts employees’ well-being at the core of corporate financial services.
Through EVB, Stanbic IBTC has:
- Transitioned corporate banking from a transactional model to a value-driven partnership
- Expanded the definition of the corporate customer to include the entire workforce
- Integrated banking, pensions, investments, mortgages, insurance, and financial education into a unified ecosystem
- Elevated corporate banking into a strategic enabler of productivity, well-being, and business sustainability
- Positioned financial well-being as a competitive advantage for modern organisations
EVB has redefined the future of corporate banking, transforming it from a service function into a lever for organisational excellence, employee empowerment, and value creation.
Stanbic IBTC drives this change, enabling businesses to build secure, high-performing workforces.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
A collaboration to enable fast money transfers into Nigeria has been entered into between Flutterwave and Xoom, PayPal’s international digital money transfer service.
The partnership allows Xoom transfers to be converted by Flutterwave and settled locally in Naira, enabling quick transfers directly into recipients’ bank accounts at Access Bank, UBA, Zenith Bank, First Bank, GTBank, and additional participating banks across Nigeria.
The deal also enables Xoom’s global network with Flutterwave’s local payout infrastructure, allowing users globally to send funds directly into Nigerian bank accounts with improved speed and efficiency.
Nigeria is the leading remittance recipient in Sub-Saharan Africa, receiving over $20 billion in personal remittances in 2024. Despite this volume, receiving international payments has historically remained complex due to FX constraints and settlement delays. This collaboration helps address those challenges in a market of more than 232 million people, where the ICT sector is projected to contribute 21 per cent of GDP by 2027.
By combining Xoom’s expansive reach with Flutterwave’s local compliance and banking partnerships, the two companies are providing a more accessible financial corridor for the continent.
Xoom, a PayPal service, is a fast and secure international digital money transfer service that enables consumers to send money, pay bills, and reload phones for friends and family in approximately 160 markets globally.
As part of PayPal’s global payments ecosystem, Xoom leverages advanced fraud protection, compliance capabilities, and a trusted global network to help millions of customers move money quickly and securely across borders.
“We’re excited to have been chosen by Xoom for their Nigeria expansion. Millions of Nigerians rely on money from abroad to support everyday needs, whether it’s families receiving help from loved ones, freelancers getting paid for their work, or individuals earning income from the global economy. This helps make it easy and more reliable for people in Nigeria to receive funds and stay connected to opportunities beyond borders,” the chief executive of Flutterwave, Mr Olugbenga GB Agboola, stated.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
An initiative known as Nigeria Lightning Rounds, designed to expand funding opportunities for Nigerian startups and small businesses by connecting founders with local and international investors, has been launched by ProvidusUnity Bank, in partnership with US-based global venture firm and accelerator, gener8tor.
Scheduled to be held on July 15, 2026, Nigeria Lightning Rounds will feature carefully selected startups engaging with targeted investors who have expressed interest in supporting Nigerian innovation.
Participating founders will have the opportunity to pitch their businesses through focused 15-minute virtual sessions facilitated by gener8tor and ProvidusUnity Bank’s networks.
The program will focus on high-growth sectors including fintech, healthtech, manufacturing, sustainability, and AI, but welcomes SMEs from all industries, with intending participants urged to apply via https://www.gener8tor.com/lightning-rounds/nigeria.
“We recognise that access to capital remains one of the biggest challenges facing entrepreneurs in Nigeria. Through our partnership with gener8tor, we are creating a platform that connects promising Nigerian founders with investors who can provide the support required to scale their businesses,” the Head of Business Development at ProvidusUnity Bank, Mr Ernest Elue, stated.
“The partnership reinforces ProvidusUnity Bank’s commitment to strengthening Nigeria’s entrepreneurial ecosystem by supporting innovation, enabling access to opportunities, and creating pathways for businesses with high-growth potential,” he added.
Also commenting, the Director of Lightning Rounds at gener8tor, Ms Elizabeth Larios, said, “gener8tor is thrilled to partner with ProvidusUnity Bank to extend the Lightning Rounds model into Nigeria.
“This collaboration reflects our commitment to building equitable ecosystems and driving capital to the most promising and underrepresented entrepreneurs.”
Lightning Rounds are a signature initiative of gener8tor’s investment platform, which has facilitated thousands of investor-startup meetings globally. The format is optimised to eliminate friction, reduce bias in early-stage fundraising, and help founders secure capital from investors aligned with their mission and stage. gener8tor’s previous Lightning Rounds for Nigerian Founders in 2025 featured 18 participating Investors and led to 50 investment meetings facilitated.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The verification of the depositors of the 46 microfinance banks, whose operating licenses were revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over a week ago, has commenced.
The exercise, aimed at refunding those whose funds were trapped in the small lenders, is being conducted by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC).
In a statement on Thursday, the agency said its staff members have been positioned at the offices of the affected banks across the country to attend to depositors.
It was disclosed that depositors of the defunct banks, who had their Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs) linked to their accounts in the failed banks, will be paid through their alternative accounts in existing banks.
However, depositors whose BVNs were not linked to their accounts in the failed banks have been encouraged to visit the affected banks’ offices with proof of account ownership, a passport photograph, verifiable means of identification (Driver’s Licence, Permanent Voter’s Card, International Passport or National ID Card) and BVN.
NDIC also stated that depositors can alternatively file their claims online through its website: www.ndic.gov.ng, to complete the Pre-Verification Claims Form by clicking on the Search Bar, and typing Pre-Verification Claims Form; opening the Form and filling in their details. They can also do so by clicking the link: https://ndic.gov.ng/ndic-pre-verification-claims-form/ or by visiting any of the NDIC offices closest to them to file their claims.
For further enquiries, the corporation can be reached on any of the following lines: 09037273810, 09038197064, 08104220807, 09064657140.
