The 13th edition of the Ghana Banking Awards has been launched in Accra. The annual event is organised by Corporate Initiative Ghana (CIG), a not-for-profit organisation, in collaboration with the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL).
The theme for the awards, scheduled for August 2014, is“Identifying and Rewarding Excellence in the banking services proposition to reflect the expectations of this competitive market.”
The Chairman of the Awards Planning Board, Nana Otuo Acheampong, said the theme reflected the fact that only the best would survive in the sector, “the best in how customers are treated and served, best in how services are priced and indeed best in the entire banking services proposition.”
He said the approach and methodology for assessing banks for the various categories were reviewed and agreed by the Technical Committee which is made up of representatives of the banks.
To underscore the independence of the awards process, he added, no universal bank was allowed to provide sponsorship. Instead, non-universal banks and corporate entities offer sponsorship.
According to him, available data did not support the assertion that the Agriculture Development Bank (ADB) should be excluded from the agriculture financing award.
The Executive Secretary of the CIG, Ms Matilda Ohene, said CIG remained focused on promoting healthy competition in the financial services industry for improved efficiency and better products and services to the final consumer.
She also said CIG was committed to the goal of creating platforms for service providers to hear what consumers thought about their service offering so they could improve on them.
“We remain convinced that helping the financial services sector to improve efficiency, services and product service delivery would impact positively on the lives of our countrymen and women. It is in this light that we are working to re-launch the Ghana insurance awards and work with stakeholders to find solutions to challenges holding back the rural and community banks awards for the past six years,” she said.
She added that in the coming years, CIG would actively call for the support of local and international partners in finance and capacity building so it could fulfil its mandate to Ghana and beyond.
“As we launch, we expect banks to put their best notes forward and customers to be objective in their responses to the survey,” she said.
Award Categories
Fifteen awards categories have been identified. They include Customer Care, Advisory Services, Trade Finance, Trade Deal of the Year, Long Term Loan Finance, Household Finance and Enterprise Finance.
The rest are Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing; Product Innovation, Competitive Pricing, Corporate Social Responsibility, Financial Performance, Bank Growth and Bank of the Year.
New additions to the award categories this year include ‘The Most Active e-Zwich Bank’ to encourage the banks in the Ghana Interbank Payment Systems (GhIPSS) product of e-zwich and IT and electronic banking, as it is now the norm rather than a choice banks have to make.
GhIPPS CEO
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Interbank Payment Systems (GhIPSS), Mr Archie Hesse, reiterated the need for banks to promote the platforms made available by GhIPPS.
According to him, although the GhIPPS is an infrastructure company, it is ready to assist banks to use their platforms to serve their clients.