Kumasi: First Allied Savings and Loans customers besiege branch

Some customers of the First Allied Savings and Loans Company in Kumasi were last Tuesday left frustrated, as they could not transact any business with the company due to what the management said was network challenges.

Although the bank opened for business at 8 a.m., no customer had been attended to as of 1:30 p.m.

Customers of the company’s branch at Pampaso, a suburb of Kumasi, numbering about 200 and mostly market women were apprehensive that they could lose their capital.

Frustration

One of them, Auntie Akua Bokoma, 65, who was spotted seated on the bare floor in the banking hall, told the Daily Graphic that she would only leave the banking hall after her money had been handed over to her.

She said in the last four months she had made many attempts to withdraw her money but was always told that the institution was challenged.

According to her, the company gave her up to September this year to come for her savings, the reason she showed up for the money yesterday.

"They thought September will never come. Are we not in September? What are these people hiding from us?” she asked.

Many of the traders told the Daily Graphic that schools were about to reopen and they needed money to prepare their children for school.

Customers

A 73-year-old retired soldier, Mr Francis Gyamfi, also indicated that he was desperate to access part of his deposit.

He said he had deposited GH¢5,500 and wanted GH¢2,000 to enable her daughter to undergo a surgical procedure.

"I don't know what to do now," he indicated, adding that should anything happen to her only daughter, he would blame the company.

A mobile phone repairer, Mr Peter Anokye, who said he had deposited GH¢10,000 with the company, said he did not need the money for anything but wanted to withdraw it and save it with “a sustainable bank”.

"It is my own money and they say I should go and return later," he said.

The Daily Graphic also visited the Asafo and Zongo branches of the company yesterday and the situation was not different. While the Asafo branch was open for business, staff there only received deposits, with few people being allowed to withdraw their funds.

When the team visited Pampaso again yesterday, it learnt that the management of the company was locked up in a crunch meeting.

Security personnel around did not permit the team to speak to any staff of the bank.