By Ralph Sesay
It has become increasingly clear that one of the country’s only 100% state owned Bank,Sierra Leone Commercial Bank,has not been able to get the required customer baseamidst the numerous banks in the country.This,many have suggested,could not be unconnected with the emergence of a number of foreign banks immediately after the civil war.
Most Sierra Leoneans, who spoke to this medium, have also attributed this state of affairs to the difficulty that has been accompanied by the opening of an account at our state banks in the recent past.
Francis Koroma, a final year student studying Financial Services at IPAM, has recounted how he has been frustrated in the past due to the fact that the Sierra Leone Commercial Bank, which was very sensitive to ensure that money launderers do not easily use the bank to launder their fraudulent monies,had maintained that individual customers present a number of proofs such as water and light bills to be able to open an account at the bank.
This was immediately capitalized on by the foreign banks that immediately flooded the country after the war.They could almost immediately open an account in few minutes for a customer upon request of no other requirement other than proper identification.
It was therefore not surprising that the foreign banks had witnessed a boom with regards customer base, and this radically affected the operations of SLCB.
Added to this, also, the foreign banks quickly promoted other services and products that were already being utilized in other parts of the world and this further made banking easier for the customer.
All these challenges, faced by then by the SLCB immediately after the war, could be attributed to lack of visionary leadership in the management and operation of the banks. Management of the SLCB, at the time, was slow to stimulate the necessary change that was already gripping the world and the sub region, especially as it relates to using the available technology to make banking easier,less time consuming and attracting more and more people.
Over the years,the SLCB have continued to attract more and more young,dynamic and highly educated Sierra Leoneans, especially at the management level.It is therefore worthwhile to note that this has correspondingly witnessed a drastic revolution in the management of the Bank in the interest of both the country and its people.
Most of these dedicated Sierra Leoneans have resisted the huge opportunities available abroad and in other foreign banks to serve their country and offer their expertise.
It is now no secret that our own SLCB is now doing well in terms of working towards financial inclusion, an international requirement as presented by our international financial players against the backdrop of an increasingly low population that have still not got access to financial services.
More and more products are being introduced, thus making banking much easier, fast and efficient;completely eliminating the traditional bottlenecks associated with the traditional form of banking, which was highly bureaucratic and time consuming.
Yearly turn-over of the Bank continues to increase, while the customer base and outreach are also expanding. The Saturday banking, which had gained momentum after it was interrupted by the Ebola scourge,has been reintroduced twice every calendar month and constantly available every Saturday in MI Yone SLCB Kiosks in Adonkia and Wilberforce communities.
It is against this backdrop that Sierra Leoneans should return back and embrace the SLCB by increasingly doing business with them.We should be able to appreciate the turn-around by our state bank and open more accounts with them.
Sierra Leoneans should be able to utilize the available and increasing secure products now available in the banks for different categories of people.
We stand to directly benefit as Sierra Leoneans; hence there is a boom in the operations of the bank.
The new Government and the Bank of Sierra Leone are very much supportive. They have continuously reviewed the regulatory environment to ensure that the bank is able to thrive.The management has been able to break new grounds amidst the difficult and challenging times Sierra Leone has gone through.
It has been able to partner with foreign ICT players to explore the huge technological opportunities available globally to make banking much easier,less time consuming and expanding.
We should be able, as a people, to emulate current trends in Ghana and Nigeria and other countries in the sub region,where their nationals have placed premium on banking with their national banks,which remain their national assets.Sierra Leone Commercial Bank is ours and as such we should bank with them.
They have expanded to all provincial headquarter towns and the introduction of the MI Yone SLCB Kiosk and MI Yone SLCB Teller already in Adonkia, Wilberforce, Jui and Kenema has increasingly opened up the space and brought back all those customers who had left.
It is the intention of management of SLCB, in the next coming months and years, to attract a huge percentage of both the unbanked population and those who have left the bank.The huge display of a number of innovative products, already in store, will leave them with no option but to return back to SLCB, their original home.