First National Bank Ghana offers relief packages to customers

First National Bank Ghana Limited has introduced a relief package to help minimise the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on its individual and corporate customers.

The relief package, which is dubbed #RealHelp, includes offering at least a two per cent interest rate cut on loans to all existing customers from April 1, 2020 for the tenure of all Ghana-cedi denominated loan facilities.

A statement issued by the bank in Accra said customers had also been given an option to apply for repayment holidays, where a temporary moratorium would be placed on the loan repayments for up to six months.

This is expected to give customers some leeway to re-organise their finances which may be negatively affected by the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. Customers can apply for the repayment holiday on the First National Bank app or by using the quick code *877# on its cell phone banking platform.

Tough times

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the bank, Mr Richard Hudson, explained that long before the first case of COVID-19 was detected in Ghana, many analysts had predicted that the pandemic would adversely impact Ghanaian businesses and, therefore, individual incomes and the overall national economy.

“We appreciate that in these tough times, we need to stand together with our customers by offering them the #RealHelp they need to make it through these tough economic times,” he said.

He added that the entire process had been digitised so there was absolutely no paperwork and that also meant response times would be faster.

“We believe these interventions will assist customers who have demonstrated sound banking behaviour such as consistently honouring their repayments to the bank before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic,” he added.

Consolidate position

The Head, Marketing and Corporate Affairs of the bank, Mr Delali Dzidzienyo, said, “with these initiatives, we want to consolidate our position as the most helpful bank in Ghana.

“We are offering our customers a real helping hand in a very difficult time as many businesses will not perform as well as they had hoped this year; and many individuals will not earn the monthly incomes that they normally expect.”

He added that the #RealHelp the bank was offering was not a one-size-fits-all solution but was tailored to each customer’s unique situation which would ensure that they gave them the necessary help in this particular circumstance.