FDB wins Merit Award at ADFIAP Awards 2022

FDB CEO Mr. Saud Minam receives the award at the Awards Night during the 45th ADFIAP Annual Meetings in Manila, Philippines.

The Fiji Development Bank (FDB) has scooped a Merit Award at the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP) Awards 2022.

The recognition award was presented at the Awards Night during the 45^th ADFIAP Annual Meetings in Manila, Philippines on 26 October 2022.

The award has been conferred to the development bank under the Outstanding Development Project, Local Economic Development for the ‘COVID-19 Recovery Credit Guarantee Scheme.’ This Category was for an initiative, program, or facility in a specific area that was created and built to foster economic growth, improve competitiveness or generate chances for new and start-up firms, whether established by external investors or local entrepreneurs.

ADFIAP is the focal point of all development banks and other financial institutions engaged in the financing of development in the Asia-Pacific region. Its mission is to advance sustainable development through its members. Founded in 1976, ADFIAP has currently 90 member-institutions in 38 countries.

FDB CEO Mr. Saud Minam acknowledged the ADFIAP Awards Board for bestowing the Bank with such distinguished recognition.

According to Mr. Minam, this is a milestone achievement for the Bank as it continues to play a catalyst role in local economic development with a strong focus on innovative digital service delivery.

He said the Bank’s proactive approach in developing an easier and more convenient solution for customers to access funds under the COVID-19 Recovery Credit Guarantee Scheme is a testimony of FDB remaining committed to its mandate.

“For the first time, FDB was given the opportunity to participate in such a facility. Under this scheme, all banks in Fiji were provided with the chance to assist businesses impacted by COVID, however, FDB took the lead.”

“This was a special opportunity for the development bank to make a difference to our communities and customers who were significantly impacted by the pandemic and were going through a challenging period to keep their businesses afloat.”

Mr. Minam also highlighted the digital transformation strides that the Bank has made since the launch of this scheme.

“In a short time, the FDB team devised strategies to reach out to as many customers as possible. In only 10 working days, the team came up with an end-to-end (E2E) process – enabling customers to access this loan facility completely online through our website www.fdb.com.fj, from the application stage to receiving the outcomes in their emails. This solution was a breakthrough for the Bank in terms of moving away from manual applications.”

He said this process has now become an important component of the new financial solutions that the Bank has recently launched, where all applications are received through the online portals on the FDB website.

CEO Minam added that “FDB is in the process of further upgrading its digital infrastructure which will assist the Bank in better serving its customers – easy application processes together with the creation of innovative financial products for targeted sectors.”