BOI launches MyBOI portal to take loan applications fully online
By Aboki Forex —
The Bank of Industry has launched a digital platform called MyBOI, which allows Nigerian businesses to apply for financing, complete onboarding and monitor loan applications from start to finish without visiting a branch.
The bank said the portal is the centrepiece of its Credit Process Re-engineering and Automation Initiative, built to address longstanding problems in its financing process. Those include manual paperwork, multiple customer touchpoints and slow turnaround times that left applicants with little visibility into the status of their applications.
What the portal does
Through MyBOI, customers can register, carry out impact and sustainability assessments, submit applications and track progress at every stage of the credit cycle. The platform also includes automated workflows and secure one-time password authentication.
BOI Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Olasupo Olusi, said the portal was designed to remove unnecessary barriers between businesses and development finance.
"MyBOI Portal represents an important step in our commitment to making development finance more accessible, transparent and responsive to the needs of businesses," Olusi said.
He added that access to finance was not only about the availability of funding but also about making the process of obtaining it easier for customers, and that technology would help the bank deliver that.
The bank expects the platform to improve data accuracy, reduce human error, strengthen compliance and give its internal teams better reporting and analytics tools for managing credit decisions.
Targets for the first year
BOI has set specific performance targets for the platform over the next 12 months. The bank aims to grow qualified digital financing applications by 30%, cut front-end application turnaround time by at least 40% within nine months, and ensure that at least 60% of new applications are completed through self-service channels within a year.
The launch followed cybersecurity certification, validation by the Central Bank of Nigeria, a pilot rollout and a go-live readiness assessment.
Access and eligibility
To support customers who may need help using the platform, BOI has set up a digital help desk across all 36 state offices.
Businesses can access the MyBOI portal at onlineportal.boi.ng or download the app through Google Play or the App Store. The platform is open to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, large businesses, cooperatives, associations and other customers eligible for BOI financing programmes.
The portal speaks directly to a complaint that has dogged development finance in Nigeria for years, the gap between money being available and businesses actually getting it. If BOI meets its own targets, MSMEs and cooperatives could spend less time chasing paperwork and more time waiting on a credit decision that they can see moving.