African Development Bank And Edcon Partner On ‘Credit’ Deal

South Africa’s biggest provider of unsecured loans, African Bank Investments Limited (ABIL), on Friday said it had become the secondary provider of credit to the clients of Edcon, one of the country’s biggest clothing retailers.  This follows an obligatory arrangement the two companies entered into recently and disclosed it on Friday.

Reuters quoted Edcon as saying, “As a secondary credit provider, African Bank would provide credit to Edcon customers who do not fit within the Absa Bank credit criteria.”   In addition,   ABIL said clients would be granted credit based on the lender’s lending rules.  Absa, South Africa’s biggest retail bank and a unit of Barclays Africa Group, is currently Edcon clients’ primary credit provider.

This happened when it acquired Edcon’s card business for ($940 million) a little more than 18 months ago.  South Africans have in recent years reduced on taking more credit as higher fuel prices and interest rate hikes took their toll.  In addition, South African lenders have had to deal with a series of non-performing loans. But ABIL has been the one lender that has been hit hard.

Source: Ventures Africa