Carbon has partnered with insurance provider AXA Mansard to launch a range of healthcare benefits for its regular customers, the Nigeria-based fintech company said Wednesday, in addition to measures meant to ease the financial burden caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Customers that save a minimum of ₦3,000 monthly with Carbon will qualify for a ₦20,000 cash benefit in the event that they are hospitalized for two or more nights. While those that have an existing loan, which is not in arrears, or do over ₦5,000 in transactions monthly will also qualify for this health benefit.
This cover lasts a month for every qualifying month on a recurring basis as long as customers continue to qualify, and is currently only available to users in Nigeria, Carbon said in a press release.
The company also announced several new measures to mitigate the impacts of the ongoing pandemic on customers. It is rescheduling loans for eligible customers who experience difficulty paying back. Also, users will be able to make up to 30 fee-free transfers on the platform.
While many lenders have stopped issuing loans to customers across the world amid an expected increase in loan requests, Carbon said it will continue to disburse loans for which it has put some additional safeguards in place. The company will keep loan amounts constant on renewals and in some cases reduce them and repeat loan applications may also require further review but that will be kept to a minimum.
“Our main aim as a business is to empower our customers. Whether that is by rewarding their discipline and loyalty or by adjusting the terms of their loans,” said Ngozi Dozie, co-founder of Carbon. “That is why we have rolled out these benefits and announced the new measures. We want to ensure that they have the best support… even at this difficult time.”
The new range of healthcare benefits is the latest on a long list of innovations from Carbon, a global company of over 100 employees with operations in Nigeria, England, and Kenya. Formerly Paylater, the startup was among the pioneers of instant lending in Nigeria via mobile applications.
Earlier this year, Carbon introduced an iOS app and USSD service following on from the launch in Kenya last December. It also announced the launch of its Disrupt Fund, a $100,000 Pan-African fund to address the lack of capital for African tech startups.
AXA Mansard is a leading provider of Life and Non-Life insurance products and services. It is a member of the AXA Group, the worldwide leader in insurance and asset management with 166,000 employees serving 107 million clients in 64 countries.
