ENCOURAGE MORE GHANAIANS TO USE BANKING SERVICES

Mr Millision Narh

 THE Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Mr Millison Narh, has encouraged banks in the country to  encourage more Ghanaians to use banking services.


He said there were a lot of Ghanaians who were keeping significant percentage of money outside the banking sector.

Those people, he said, were engaged in the productive sectors of the economy such as commerce, farming and the provision of services in the informal sector.

“They charge for their services and receive payment but income generated is held outside the banking sector,” he explained.

Mr Narh was speaking at the launch of the Bank of Africa (BoA) first business centre in Accra yesterday.
The centre would provide services such as trade facilitation, transactions, trade finance, loans and advances, investment services among other banking needs with the view to providing  its customers with an integrated channel for better service delivery.

Mr Narh said it was important that those individuals outside the banking sector were roped into the formal economy saying, “It is only when this is achieved that they can be accounted for in the larger economy.”

“We owe it a duty, as regulators, to protect the interest of players in the informal sector as well as encourage them to take advantage of the obvious gains in using the banking system,” he added.

Mr Narh, therefore, urged banks to design and offer product propositions and solutions that resonate well with the informal sector.

He, however, lauded the initiative of BoA for their renewed focus on segmentation and technology while providing quality services to its customers.

The Managing Director of BoA, Mr  Kobby Andah said the centre was ready to help customers  and also to provide them with regular updates of information from the bank.

“We will also work with speed and accuracy to always ensure that we meet and exceed any customer deadlines we set,” he said.

The Group Chair and Chief Executive Officer of BoA, Mr Mohammed Bennani, said the bank’s passion for doing business in Africa was driven by the desire to contribute to the long term development of African economies.

“We believe that we have identified an approach to doing business on the continent that creates substantial and long term opportunities,” he said.