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The General Manager of Nwabiagya rural Bank, Mr Samuel Nuamah-Dankwa (left), and the Board Chairman of the bank and some dignitaries listening to proceedings during the annual General Meeting.
The General Manager of Nwabiagya rural Bank, Mr Samuel Nuamah-Dankwa (left), and the Board Chairman of the bank and some dignitaries listening to proceedings during the annual General Meeting.

Nwabiagya Rural Bank: Changing the face of rural banking

After installing Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) at their various branches last year to make withdrawals more convenient, the Nwabiagya Rural Bank (NRB) has set another standard in rural banking in the country by hooking the accounts of their numerous clients onto their mobile phones.

Over 20,000 clients of NRB have  been hooked onto the mobile phone banking since it was introduced in March this year.

With the innovation, NRB is not only developing products that make banking much easier for clients, but also expanding its horizon in deposits by raking in over GH¢1,000,000 (one million) deposits a day.

The mobile phone banking has also reduced queues at their banking halls dramatically and management is considering despatching staff to communities within their catchment areas not only to solicit more clients, but to collect deposits, thereby enhancing their fortunes.

“The mobile phone banking is a simple means of accessing all transactions with us. Now clients can do all their banking by using their mobile phone anywhere and anytime with no stress at all.  All they need to do is to go to Google Play Store and download their Nwabiagya E- Passbook onto their mobile phones. It then allows clients to do all forms of banking businesses with the bank from all corners of the country, thus reducing the stress of travelling to the banking halls or visiting their ATM to do,” the General Manager of NRB, Mr Samuel Nuamah-Dankwa, explained in an interview with the Daily Graphic.

With such an innovation, clients only have to download their accounts onto their mobile phones, and by the click of their phones they can transact all forms of  banking businesses with their phones anywhere, at anytime.

‘Me phone nie, me bank nie’

Dubbed ‘Me phone nie, me bank nie’, literally meaning this is my phone, this is my bank, the general manager said the innovation linked clients to their bank accounts for them to have access to their mobile wallets which enabled them to undertake all forms of banking businesses with NRB all day, at anywhere and at anytime, even on weekends, holidays and at odd hours.

The facility also makes it possible for clients to transfer monies from one account to another or cash from any mobile money accredited agent in the country.

He said  it could also be used to  deposit money from their bank account to their mobile money wallets, transfer money from their mobile money wallet to their accounts, and get notification on any business transactions they made, as well as getting access to three months of their statements.

Besides, they can, also through this means, have access to their money everywhere, and anytime by using the Nwabiagya E-Passbook on their mobile phones.

Why mobile wallet

On why the NRB mobile money application was introduced, Mr Nuamah-Dankwa noted that “all our clients have access to mobile phones; hence the introduction of the application that links their phones to their bank accounts to enhance business transactions.’’

‘’When there is the need to withdraw money at any time or day, there is no need to travel to any of our branches. You just use the phone to penetrate your account and “ pull money” from your account onto the mobile wallet.  After that you just visit any mobile money merchant in your community to withdraw your money to undertake your business transactions,” he added.

He said with the presence of mobile money in various communities now, it did not only become very easy for clients to be hooked onto the system to easily access their monies from their mobile phone wallets,  but also saved time, resources and energy, while accelerating business transactions and reducing stress.

Easy banking

Mr Nuamah-Dankwa christened the new system “ Easy banking.” Throwing more light on the system, he said: “We have now realised that our clients mostly stress up when they travel from their homes, offices and shops to our various banking halls, just to withdraw or deposit money, so considering the vehicular traffic and other risks in the cities, we decided to make banking easily accessible to our clients, hence the introduction of the Nwabiagya Mobile Banking”.

“People do not have time nowadays, and with the introduction of mobile money, which has become very attractive, even to the ordinary Ghanaian, we  took advantage to take banking to the doorstep of our clients to make it easier for them to operate their transactions,” he noted.

Banking businesses

Explaining further, the General Manager said: “ If you want to deposit money into your account, you just visit any mobile money merchant in your area, give the money to the person for it to be transferred onto your wallet on your phone, thus saving you time and resources of visiting any of our branches for the same purpose.”

On the reaction of their clients after the introduction of the mobile money banking two months ago, Mr Nuamah-Dankwa said  their clients had embraced their innovation so well, and had expressed their appreciation in diverse ways. The new innovation has become very catchy. That, according to him, is because even at odd hours and on weekends, holidays, and at night, clients can deposit or withdraw money for any purpose.

He said the NRB mobile phone banking started in March, and within a month, over 20,000, clients had been hooked onto the system, with the number swelling by the day.

Cashless system

“With such an innovation, we are on the verge of making our clients embrace the cashless system which the Bank of Ghana has become so much enthused with. With this, we are not only adhering to Bank of Ghana’s regulations, but also making business transactions for our clients become much more convenient, less risky, and business-oriented,” he noted.

ATM and mobile banking

He said  the introduction of ATM late last year by NRB created much excitement among their clients.

Explaining, he said  it enhanced the withdrawal of money at odd times, “but this mobile phone banking has become much more versatile.

“This is a complement to the ATM system. Our clients are highly appreciative, because they consider it as highly innovative and business-oriented. They need not hassle during the rush hours to do business. At their convenience they can do all forms of banking businesses, so it also promotes their businesses in diverse ways,” he added.

New face of rural banking

He said with the new system, NRB had been at the forefront of changing the face of rural banking by providing avenues for their staff to move to their operational areas to solicit more clients, devise means of encouraging  them to do more deposits and other forms of banking transactions.

“When many customers hook onto it, many of our staff member will not operate from the banking halls as they used to. We will change the face of banking by moving our staff to the communities to enrol  for more customers onto our banking business for them to moblise deposits, among others,” he disclosed.

He noted further that the new system was now becoming the order of the day “so we have fully embraced it because many of the traditional banks are moving onto the electronic platform; hence, the need to be part of the new generation of  such banks.”

 Mr Nuamah-Dankwa said: “We need to move with technology; without it, we will be left behind, and that will not be feasible to our vision of becoming the best managed and leading rural bank in the provision of competitive and affordable financial services in the country.”

“We are a rural bank, but we have totally embraced technology and running with it.  We are the first rural bank to introduce the new product, so we are competing favourably with the traditional banks. It has become the order of the day, so we will not fold our arms while technology keeps on changing. We don’t want our bank to be obsolete, because the repercussions will not be favourable for us.

“Very soon, the notes will fade out, and electronic money will become the order of the day, so the earlier we move with the new system, the better for us,” he noted.

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