Most Rev. Charles Gabriel Palmer-Buckle (right), Metropolitan Arch Bishop of Accra, being assisted by Ms Mizinga Melu (left), Chief Executive, Barclays Africa Regional Management to cut the tape to inaugurate the Osu branch in Accra.

Barclays Bank to focus on NGOs

Maxwell Adombila Akalaare Business News Jul - 21 - 2015 , 11:05

Barclays Bank Africa has identified the increasing numbers of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the country as key potential growth market.

As a result, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Barclays Africa Regional Management, Ms Mizinga Melu, said the regional arm of the group would be supporting the Ghana unit to put in place structures and systems to support the operations of these development-related institutions in return for revenues.

“The NGOs are a key growth potential and we would be focusing on them. Ghana has a number of different development organisations and the question is; how do we give them the platforms and infrastructure to be able to operate,” she said at the official opening of the bank’s first premier and prestige banking office at Osu in Accra.

She mentioned barclays.net, a cash management platform, as one of the initiatives the bank would be using to tap into the potential that NGOs and their partner development institutions offered to the country’s financial services sector.

She explained that the platform would give the beneficiary institutions a smooth way to transfer money from one area to another, thereby reducing the burden associated with inter and intra-bank transfers.

Maintaining growth

Over the years, the Ghana unit of the Barclays Group has been a strong contributor to growth in the region.

Last year, Barclays Bank Ghana’s return on equity was above the regional average of 18 per cent, making the bank the top contributor in that year.

While commending the unit for that impressive growth over the years, Ms Melu said was it was imperative for the Ghana office to continue to maintain that momentum in growth in line with the bank’s growth agenda.

This, she said, required increased investments in existing markets and the discovery of new ones to complement already existing ones.

She mentioned agriculture, mining, small and medium-scale enterprise (SME) sectors as some of the existing areas that the bank would leverage on to derive its growth in the coming years.

Model branch

Ms Melu explained that the Osu branch was to serve as a model office for the bank, which aims to elevate the rest of its branches in the country to its status.

The office is expected to offer modernised banking services to customers who transact business there, thereby reducing the challenges associated with the traditional forms of banking.

In line with the bank’s commitment to customer excellence, Ms Melu said the bank would be opening four of such branches nationwide before the end of the year.

“Ultimately, we want all our branches in Ghana to look like this,” she said.

The service in the branch is expected to complement similar investments in infrastructure aimed at upgrading and modernising them to meet the needs of modern day customers.