BANKS URGED TO MAKE THEIR OPERATIONS MORE ATTRACTIVE TO CUSTOMERS (SPREAD, OCT 27, 2010)

THE Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Mark Woyongo, has appealed to the leadership of banks and other financial institutions operating in the region to relax some of the rules and regulations governing their operations, where possible, so that their services will become more attractive to the people in the area.
He said the introduction of those innovative products would not only take care of the majority of people but also improve the lifestyles of individuals, which could in turn quicken the general development of the area.
Mr Woyongo said this in a speech read on his behalf by the District Chief Executive for Kassena-Nankana East, Mr Emmanuel Andema, during the official opening of the Navrongo branch of the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB).
“In situations where majority of our people in a particular area are poor, banking institutions should not just concern themselves with providing only banking services but also play a lead role in the general socio-economic development of the people,” he observed.
He said the Kassena-Nankana East District had a lot of potential as far as agriculture was concerned and cited the existence of the Tono Irrigation facility, which he said opened a lot of opportunities to individuals and groups who would want to venture into all- year-round large- scale farming involving the cultivation of rice, tomato, pepper and other crops.
Mr Woyongo expressed the hope that the services to be provided by the bank would, in no small measure, help boost the efforts at food production.
The Managing Director of ADB, Mr Stephen Kpordzih, said the opening of the new branch in Navrongo was to have its services on the doorstep of the people and help reduce poverty.
He reiterated the expectation that the bank would remain the most competitive in respect of lending rates, particularly to the agriculture sector.
Mr Kpordzih noted that the three regions of the north offered huge potential for increased production of food, industrial and export crops, poultry and livestock, so expanding ADB’s reach in the area meant a greater boost for agribusiness, including transportation, storage, preservation, warehousing, input distribution and marketing.
The opening of the new branch, he said, was a testimony of the bank’s commitment to expanding its reach to its valued clients in the northern parts of the country.
He, therefore, urged customers of the bank and prospective ones to take advantage of the various products in existence and future ones to do business with ADB for their mutual benefit.