Development bank celebrates milestone |12 February 2014

The Development Bank of Seychelles (DBS) has to date financed over 7,700 projects to the tune of R1.85 billion.

This came to light yesterday at an open day to mark the bank’s 36 years in existence which it will be celebrating on Friday this week.

The aim of the open day was to re-launch the bank and the services it offers, as well as showcasing how far the bank has come since it first opened its doors on February 14, 1978 with only eight staff.

The chairperson of DBS, Lekha Nair, noted that the open day was an opportunity to provide the public with information on the bank’s products and services, its progress over the years as well as its future plans.
 
From serving only the agricultural and the fisheries sectors, the bank has extended its scope of financing to modernising and expanding projects in fields such as manufacturing, services, tourism, real estate, construction of commercial buildings, rental accommodation, office storage as well as shop premises.

Having already greatly contributed to the development of the Seychelles economy, the bank wishes to continually assure economic growth by using its newly secured lines of credits and bonds that were and are being issued as another option for clients who want to invest money.

“The approach of DBS is very humane and is not dictated by the cut-throat commercialism, for our role is also as a development bank, to help the community and contribute to the economic progress of the country,” said Mrs Nair.

The open day had a vast display of pictures showing the many sectors and businesses that the bank has financed. At the moment the service sector has the most diverse and number of clients.

It also gave statistics from 2007 – 2013 in terms of loans approved.

At the moment DBS is lending at 10% interest, but there are also special schemes, notably the Agricultural Development Fund lending at 2.5% interest and the Fisheries Development Fund at 3% interest.

Future plans of DBS include transformation of the bank into a modern office building which will provide more space and better facilities for customers.