‘We have lost confidence in traditional banks’

Mr. Osei Mensah, a retired army officer, on Tuesday said customers who registered with some microfinance institutions(MFIs) in Dormaa – Ahenkro but have fallen prey to the activities of such institutions recently did so because they have lost confidence in the traditional banks.

He explained that in accessing loans to improve their businesses, the traditional banks had put impediments on their way and often requests that customers meet certain conditions and criteria, such as collaterals and other particulars in order to qualify for such loans.

Mr. Mensah, who is the Chairman of the clients of God Is Love Fun Club, a micro finance institution, made this known in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Dormaa – Ahenkro at a meeting with 250 customers of the Club.

The meeting was to solicit members’ views on how to address the shortcomings and issues surrounding the delay in releasing deposits of customers of the Club.

He dispelled the notion that it was out of greed, which motivated them to do business with those institutions.

“If the radio stations could be a bit careful to do background checks and enough investigations on these MFIs before they advertise them, it will do us much good”, he observed.

The retired army officer, called on the traditional banks to reduce their interest rates to 17 per cent in order to attract a lot of customers from the non-banking population.