Ghana’s largest privately-owned indigenous bank and the Ghanaian pioneer of agency banking, Fidelity Bank Ghana, has held a series of engagement forums for its Agents nationwide on the theme “Mitigating Risks in the Agent Banking Business”.
The engagement forums were held in Tamale, Kumasi and Takoradi with the final forum being held in Accra for both Accra and Eastern territories at Atinka Village. Among the activities that characterized the forum was the recognition given to Agents for their sterling performance in 2021.
The forum also served as a platform for representatives of the various departments of the bank to train the Agents on best practices in their operations. To climax the annual Fidelity Agent Engagement Forum, S-Duah Enterprise from the Ashanti Region was crowned the 2021 Overall Best Agent and was presented with a motor bicycle and a certificate of recognition.
The best Agents from each of the five territories were also presented with certificates and Samsung 32” smart TVs. The first runners up received Nasco double-door fridges, while the most improved agents were awarded with LG sound systems and the best Agent Attendants went home with microwaves.
Speaking at the event, Nana Esi Idun-Arkhurst, the Divisional Director, Retail Banking of Fidelity Bank Ghana, pledged the bank’s unflinching support to Agents and commended them for their significant contribution to the successes chalked by the bank; most notably their contribution to Fidelity’s financial inclusion drive.
“We appreciate the milestones our Agents have achieved as they have boosted financial inclusion in many communities. To ensure that this trend continues, Fidelity Bank is committed to improving our agency banking operations so that we can better serve even more customers,” she stated.
Nana Esi added that Fidelity Bank will keep expanding its Agent network to bring banking closer to the doorsteps of Ghanaians and she noted that the bank also intends to create employment for more Ghanaians across the country.
Addressing the Agents, Fidelity Bank’s Head of Agency Banking, Dr. David Okyere, stated that, “Key amongst our 2022 initiatives will be our Agent Promotion campaign as well as the introduction of our Agent locator feature; a tool on the Fidelity Mobile App that will show the locations of all Fidelity Agent Points across the country.”
Dr. Okyere also noted that after a successful pilot programme, the bank will this year begin to offer liquidity support to Agents.
Fidelity Agency Banking was introduced as an alternative distribution channel after Fidelity Bank became the first bank to receive approval from the Bank of Ghana to fully operate the agency banking model in Ghana in 2014. Today, Fidelity Bank has about five thousand (5000) Agents across all the regions of Ghana. Fidelity Bank was adjudged the 2021 Agency Banking Bank of the Year at the 2021 Instinct Business Finance Innovation Awards and is currently the market leader in agency banking in Ghana.
In a little over a decade, Fidelity Bank Ghana has grown from a discount house to a Tier-1 Bank and is now the largest privately-owned Ghanaian Bank in Ghana. The bank currently serves its approximately 2 million customers in 75 branches across Ghana and is a leader in the digital banking space.
The bank has two subsidiaries, Fidelity Asia Bank Limited, which is a wholly owned subsidiary in Malaysia and Fidelity Securities Limited, an asset management firm. In a short period of time, Fidelity Bank has become a household name in Ghana by adopting a customer-centric culture and delivering consistently on the promise of making a difference in the lives of all stakeholders.
