GCB on the move to meet customers at their doorstep

Accra, June 2, GNA - Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) on Wednesday opened its 131st branch at Dome to augment its drive at meeting customers at their doorsteps and creating an avenue to maximise banking transactions in the country.

Addressing the ceremony, Mrs Matilda Obeng-Ansong, Managing Director of GCB, said the Bank had reduced its lending rate to 25 per cent to be in line with the reduction in Bank of Ghana's Prime Rate, which dropped to 18.5 per cent last week.

Mrs Obeng-Ansong said she was optimistic that the downward review of interest rates would encourage customers to borrow and expand their businesses.

She said the banking environment was now highly competitive due to the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to fast track process to meet the needs of customers.

"There is no doubt that ICT as a tool had become a means of achieving operational efficiency and profitability," Mrs Obeng-Ansong said.

She said banks could survive only if they provided products and services that met customers' aspirations as well as created value for them. The Managing Director urged the Bank's customers to patronize the newly launched electronic products adding; " the commernet is a special product for our corporate customers, who require results of their transactions on-line for early reconciliation and verification".

Mrs Obeng-Ansong said the electronic ticketing system, which was provided at the new branch, was to ensure an orderly turn out of customers and save them the hassle of struggling in queues.

Mr Kwabena Gyima Osei-Bonsu, Board Chairman of GCB, said the Bank was in the process of upgrading its Wide Area Network platform with a superior communication technology to allow the smooth exchange of information, both voice and data, among the 131 branches.

He, however, urged exporters, especially those in the small and medium enterprises sector to take advantage of funds made available at GCB under the Export Promotion Investment Fund to expand their businesses.