BOND Savings and Loans Limited unveils new face
Reaching the large unbanked population has always been a challenge but one must add that, it is a huge opportunity for growth as well. Per the last count, 80 per cent of the population has no access to any form of financial services. A poor infrastructural development is partly to blame for this as well as the conduct of some financial institutions that is reducing confidence in the people and a large illiterate population.
Advertisement
“Thankfully, mobile penetration is quiet high and it is improving by the day. We employ this simple technology to send out messages on our products and services to create the necessary awareness. We have also had the opportunity to organize financial literacy programs to educate a section of the populace about financial literacy,” the Chief Executive Officer of BOND Savings and Loans Limited Mr George Ofosuhene said.
Technology has become key to deployment of banking services and an enabler in reaching areas that hitherto is not accessible. Social media has also become too powerful in recent time to the extent that it cannot be ignored.
“We have used technology in ways that have helped us to compete well. We have a vibrant website that has features that enable clients to initiate business from the site. We have also deployed our own ATM to serve our clients at vantage locations,” he said.
The company have very robust software that makes it possible to integrate third party software and deploy e-banking product that is offering convenience to BOND’s customers.
“BOND is offering mobile money services in partnership with the major telecommunications companies. We look forward to enhancing this simple tool to the greater benefit of our customers in the very near future,” he added.
He opined that the company have successfully deployed SMS banking which was a way of communicating instantly with it’s customers which engenders transparency in transactions, saying “we have very active twitter and Facebook Accounts that is being managed by our corporate affairs unit as well.”
Competitive advantage
The focus of BOND however is to use technology in the area of mobile telephony as a source of greater competitive advantage.
The advent of mobile money services has paved way for mobile network operators to deliver efficient, cost-effective and quick mobile and branchless banking services to subscribers in addition to their own traditional services.
“Electronic transfers and payments have emerged strongly in recent times as the next big thing in banking. Mobile payments are now a top investment priority for banks across the world. In fact, the world’s biggest banks continue to focus most of their announced IT initiatives on mobile financial services which includes payments and online mobile banking. This is not surprising given the ever growing ubiquity of the mobile phone,” he cited.
Aided by factors such as inaccessible rural areas, high illiteracy, the need for convenience, high mobile phone penetration rate, the service in Ghana is ever growing. Latest figures available makes the case for venturing into this area even stronger.
In 2015 alone, total mobile money transactions increased to 266 million from 133 million in 2014 accounting for some 35 million and 12 million in value for 2015 and 2014 respectively.
According to the Bank of Ghana (BoG), the growth in volume of transactions between 2014 and 2015 alone is a colossal 135.24 per cent.
A total of GHc13.7 billion worth of transactions were recorded in the first quarter of this year alone, accounting for some 100 per cent increase over the figure recorded same time last year.
Out of 32 million mobile phone subscribers, only 13 million are mobile money registered. Out of the 13 million mobile money customers, only 4.8 million are active mobile money customers. From the foregoing, there is ample evidence that the market is still in it’s developmental stages and with the current rate of growth, the mobile money market promises to overtake conventional payments and banking in the next few years.
BOND has positioned itself over the years in such a way that makes it adaptable to innovation and new technology. This has helped it to deliver excellent customer service and superior product offerings to its customers. Evidently, this has reflected in the year on year performance of the company that has earned it an enviable position in the prestigious Ghana Club100 award.
