GN Bank charged to shore up rural economy

Togbe Koku Dzaga the Eleventh, Paramount Chief of Klefe, has launched the GN Bank as a universal bank in Ho with the expectation that it provides financial inter-mediation to shore up Ghana’s rural economy to reflect its goal of being a “People’s Bank,” a “truly indigenous bank.”

He said rural farmers and small and medium-scale entrepreneurs were in need of a bank to provide them with financial arrangements appropriate to their needs.

For example, farmers would be happy if the Bank could develop a product which would enable them to use their produce as collateral for loans.

Togbe Dzaga, therefore, admonished GN Bank not to focus on interest income and its consequent high interests, thereby alienating itself from workers, students, traders and small-to-medium entrepreneurs, as spelt out in its corporate vision.

He advised workers of the Bank to see it as their own, and deliver to the best of their abilities.

Professor Franklyn Manu, Director of the Bank, said it has not abandoned the people; instead its transition was an addition to “what we have been doing already.”

He said the GN Bank was committed to providing the opportunity and motivation to the “80 percent of the Ghanaian population outside the banking sector to come on board.

Until September 18, this year when the GN Bank was launched, it was known as First Ghana, having started as a Savings and Loans facility in 1997.

With the change in name, came the change in colour from blue and white to gold and maroon, reflecting the land and wealth of Ghana, Mr Issah Adam, General Manager Administration and Finance of the Bank disclosed.

The GN Bank has seven branches in the Volta Region.