By SuaraSherif
FirstBank Nigeria has partnered with retail giant Pointek to launch FirstEASE, a buy-now-pay-later facility aimed at widening access to mobile devices, electronic gadgets and home appliances, with repayment spread over six months.
Abednego Ugwueke, Group Head of E-Business and Retail Products at FirstBank, said the partnership addresses the cost barrier that keeps customers from acquiring the devices digital life now demands.
“We are living in an information age where information is abundant online, and people need devices that are intelligent to access that information,” Ugwueke said at the launch in Lagos. “With that comes the requirement for more compute, more memory, more speed of those devices, and that also translates to cost, so it becomes increasingly difficult for people to be able to cough up what is required to buy a device at once.”
He said the product is built around transparency: “When you make a decision to access FirstEASE for the purpose of buying Pointek products, you are not blind. You have information to be able to make the right decision.”
Chukwuka Okonkwo, Head of Personal Banking at FirstBank, said eligibility is assessed through artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms at the point of purchase.
“We have created a very seamless way for people to purchase phones from Pointek, laptops from Pointek, electronic equipment from Pointek, and pay over six months,” Okonkwo said, adding that the facility carries a 3 per cent rate.
The financing is restricted to Pointek products, making it a merchant-linked credit scheme rather than a general device financing offer.
