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Loan Products

Community Banking Loans (CB)

UOB’s principal products are the Community Banking Loans.  Group members typically operate small businesses and have little or no collateral.  Therefore, members within a Community Banking group cross guarantee one another’s loans.  We have two varieties of Community Banking products:

Traditional Community Banking offers the basic entry level credit program.  Group members receive a 4-week training for entry and repay the borrowed money weekly over 16 weeks.  This product has the greatest outreach and transformational impact.

Advanced Community Banking (ACB) offers a longer term and flexible payment frequency.  It is one of the graduated products for Traditional Community Banking clients.

New Solidarity Group Loans (NSG)

NSG is another graduated credit product for the CB clients, typically those who have collateral and desire to graduate into individual loans but are not quite ready.  The NSG allows UOB clients with borrowing experience and debt management skills to borrow a higher loan amount at a lower interest rate with a flexible payment term and frequency.  The NSG loans usually require collateral and each member’s social guarantee is limited to the compulsory deposit amount that is provided as collateral.  This product is a hybrid of group and individual loans.

Micro-Business Loans (MBL)

Micro-Business Loans are direct-entry products for individual entrepreneurs, as well as graduated products for Community Banking Group or New Solidarity Group clients whose businesses have grown beyond the capacity of the group loan model.  These loan products are for customers who are unable to access credit through the formal banking sector due to more stringent collateral requirements, although some form of collateral is generally required.  UOB’s MBL products offer standard, preferred, and premier credit programs depending on the client’s business history, borrowing amount, and previous payment history.  Under this program UOB is able to accommodate the financing needs of small and medium enterprises.

Currently, UOB offers motorcycle taxi loans and tractor loans as specialty MBL products.

Consumer Loans

Salary Loans

This loan product is made to wage earners who are paid regular salaries.  Customers will use the proceeds for the purchase of consumer goods and other types of domestic consumption.  Their salaries are routed through UOB for repayment and they receive the remaining balance.

Motorcycle Loans

Although Rwanda has a limited road system the use of vehicles is on the increase.  People will continue to look for economical forms of personal transportation, and the most logical option for many will be the motorcycle.

Specialty Loans

Micro Leasing

The UOB Micro Leasing product is a means of helping micro-business entrepreneurs make use of equipment without having to commit capital to purchase it.  Many businesses have discovered that profits can be made from leasing rather than owning equipment.  Leasing allows equipment to be wholly owned by the leaser until the loan is fully paid, at which time a transfer of ownership is made from leaser to lessee.

Agricultural Loans

Agriculture affects approximately 90% of Rwanda’s population.  The agricultural sector, also, accounts for roughly 37% of Rwanda’s gross domestic product (2009) and generates 65% of Rwanda’s foreign exchange.  Thus, it is vital for UOB to provide agricultural credit products and services for the agricultural sector in order to achieve a holistic transformational impact on the rural poor.  Agricultural lending will help rural clients access the capital that they need while helping the bank achieve portfolio diversification and market expansion.

Future Loan Products

Seeking to be a catalyst of Rwanda’s social and economic transformation among the poor and middle classes, UOB intends to add the following to its product offering: