Equity Savings and Loans commences business
Equity Savings and Loans Limited has been launched in Accra with the strategy of being a one-stop-shop. With a current capital base of GH¢18.3 million, Equity’s deposit base increased from GH¢7 million to over GH¢25 million and its customer base increased from 3,000 to over 6,000 by the first quarter of this year.
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The Chief Operating Officer of Equity, Mr Isaac Kweku Arthur, in an interview after the launch, said the company had distinguished itself to become a one-stop-shop for financial services provision in four thematic areas and they are namely products, technology, human resource and customer service.
He said Equity, in addition to traditional products, had developed unique products as investment opportunity for its customers some of which include Equity Platinum and Equity Reward accounts, Equity Bonus Plan and the Fisherman Life Insurance Scheme (FLIS).
“The FLIS is a specialised deposit product designed for fishermen to save in an interest yielding account and this comes with an insurance cover. Our loan products are the susu / group, micro, payroll, corporate, small and medium enterprise, and auto and vehicle maintenance loans respectively,” he said.
He said as part of the growth strategy, Equity will deploy cards and automated teller machines to bring convenience to its customers.
“The company operates five branches in two regions and three more branches to be opened by the end of the second quarter. This will bring to eight the number of branches with three more to achieve the target of 11 branches by the end of 2017,” he said.
Impacting on society
The Board Chairman of the company, Mr Samuel Kwaku Manu, said Equity would register its presence in six regions in the next two years and by the next four years be in all the 10 regions in country.
Quoting from renowned fund manager Bill Gross, he said finding the best organisation to invest one’s money was one of the most important decisions, therefore, Equity would continue to make prudent investment decisions aimed at ensuring preservation of capital while maximising investment yield.
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Drawing lessons from events in the industry which resulted in some entities losing their life-time savings, Mr Owusu-Manu said Equity would implement corporate polices, operate an effective and efficient control systems that would encourage transparent corporate governance and promote ethical business practices.
“Our ultimate goal is to become universal bank within the shortest possible time. We need the support of all our strategic partners, particularly our customers and regulators to make this happen,” he said.
Govt intervention
A Deputy Minister of Finance, Ms Abena Osei Asare, speaking at the ceremony, said the government was committed to developing policioes to stabilise the banking sector and increase confidence particularly in the savings and loans sector.
She said the government was taking steps to improve the financial environment to enable institutions such as Equity to successfully operate.
“We are confident that by pursing these policies that promoted investments into growth poles for the economy and with proper management, we will soon witness favourable and sustained outcome such as stability of the exchange rate and reduced interest and inflation rate,” she said.
She commended Equity for the strides made and encouraged it to work harder to advance the fortunes of both the company and the nation as a whole.