The Amenfiman Rural Bank Limited at Wasa Akropong in the Wasa Amenfi East District in the Western Region has opened a branch at Sefwi Bekawi in the Western Region.
The inauguration of the Sefwi Bekwai branch brings to 16, the number of branches currently being operated by the Bank.
These are Wassa Akropong, Wassa Akropong High Street, Manso Amenfi, Asankragwa, Samraboi, Asankragwa main (Nkoso Fie), Dunkwa on Offin, Prestea and Bawdie.
The rest are Enchi, Tamso, Santasi in Kumasi, Sefwi Dwenase (Adepa Fie), Tarkwa, Abrepo also in Kumasi and the newly inaugurated Sefwi Bekwai branch.
The Bank began prospecting the Sefwi area when they did not even have an office and identified prospective traders especially women with the desire to do business and nurtured them with business ideas and supported them financially to do business to earn a living.
This according to the CEO, Dr Alex Kojo Asmah compelled the Board and with the assistance of the chiefs at Sefwi Bekwai to acquire a premises very conducive for banking business.
The bank began this unique strategy four years ago and has registered, nurtured and given financial literacy to approximately 20,000 customers predominantly women and put them under the Bank’s microfinance scheme.
In an exclusive interview, the CEO, Dr Asmah is of the view that rural banks should “master” their jurisdiction of banking business which is the small and medium enterprise and bring it to perfection.
According to him, he is very much aware of the numerous number of financial institutions within Sefwi Bekwai and anticipates a very tough competition but his competent management team coupled with the already existing customer loyalty as well as the overwhelming acceptance of the petty traders give him hope to easily penetrate the market and is very much ready for the challenges ahead.
“Competition gives us the urge to be more aggressive and to penetrate the market very easily; once we know there is competition it rather motives us to work much harder and this has contributed to our growth as a bank and we will continue to embrace competition”, he stress
In an address, the Board Chairman, Dr Tony Aubynn said the Bank continues to pursue a strategic market segmentation plan to ensure that they could factor products and services to meet the immediate needs of the people within their operating territories.
The Board Chairman listed branch expansion, strengthening of electronic banking products and services, branchless banking services, as part of the key projections of the Bank going into the future.
He said doing this would ensure customer satisfaction as well as convenient banking and also help the Bank to leverage its strength as a good lending bank.
He advised the people of Sefwi Bekwai to take advantage of the presence of the bank and do good business with it and also purchase shares to enjoy good dividend every year and become owners of the bank.