Polaris Bank has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) in a historic move to boost the supply of medicines in the country through the availability of digital credit facilities.

The scheme, which is the first of its kind in the industry, will afford ACPN members the benefit of enjoying instant financing via a multifunctional card scheme and up to N100m under the Bank’s health sector SME loan. The electronic card which is designed to remove barriers associated with obtaining credit also serves as a debit card, credit card, an automated identity card, and an access card to ACPN functions.

Polaris Bank’s Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Innocent C. Ike, who announced the MoU on behalf of the Bank, expressed delight at the partnership between the Bank and the pharmaceutical association. He noted that the partnership would make financing the supply of medicines in the country seamless for ACPN members and by extension, members of the public.

Mr. Ike disclosed that; “The Bank is expanding its cluster partnership approach to deepen its reach in the health sector. We will do this by engaging critical players and stakeholders within the space to develop customized programs and value-added services that will boost their business growth and ultimately their contribution to Nigeria’s GDP”.

He further explained that; “The partnership with ACPN will leverage the Bank’s digital banking platform VULTe,” to provide easy and instant loan facilities for customers through a self-service fast track platform.

On his part, the National Chairman of ACPN, Pharm. Adewale Oladigbolu said, “The pharmaceutical industry stands to benefit significantly from the tremendous opportunities this partnership presents. He thanked Polaris Bank for being an innovative bank and lending its support to the health sector. He noted that the new initiative introduced by the Association in partnership with Polaris Bank for use by the community pharmacists in Nigeria, especially the inventory management for community pharmacists and Premises to Premises (P2P) supply chain. The integration of the inventory platform will help connect wholesalers to retailers and manufacturers to wholesalers.

Pharm. Oladigbolu further explained that using the ACPN digital platform, will ensure that loans availed by Polaris Bank are used for its primary purpose while the Association continues to create value and access for its members to optimize their businesses. He used the opportunity to announce the forthcoming ACPN Annual Conference tagged – ‘AJUMOSE EKO 2022’. He said the conference would provide a platform to launch the Polaris/ACPN co-branded multifunctional cards to ACPN members. The cards will be issued to the first batch of its members, including the ACPN executives.

Polaris Bank has so far availed over N3billion to clients in the health sector since it launched the Health Sector Finance as part of its initiatives to support the industry. The Bank’s partnership with ACPN and the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) as an umbrella body is part of its support towards enabling value-adding solutions to the healthcare industry in Nigeria.

Some executives of Polaris Bank at the MoU signing ceremony include Executive Director, Lagos Business, Mr. Segun Opeke; Group Head, Products and Market Development, Adebimpe Ihekuna and Group Head, Strategic Brand Management, Nduneche Ezurike, amongst others. the ACPN Chairman was accompanied by the executive members, including its National Secretary, Eze Ambrose Sunday; Treasurer, Omokhafe Ashore, amongst others

Polaris Bank is a future-determining Bank and Nigeria’s Digital Bank of the Year. The Bank is committed to delivering industry-defining products and services across all sectors of the Nigerian economy; in recognition of its support to the SMEs it recently won the 2022 Nigeria Health Care Awards (NHEA) for the most outstanding healthcare financial institution in Nigeria.