Make account opening easier, banker advises peers
Jun 18, 2014
Financial institutions need to cut down on the bureaucracies in account opening to attract more Ugandans to join the mainstream banking industry, a top player has revealed.
By Billy Rwothungeyo
Financial institutions need to cut down on the bureaucracies in account opening to attract more Ugandans to join the mainstream banking industry, a top player has advised.
“It is a long process before someone can get an account. We must make account opening easy for everyone. People are asked a lot of questions; where do you sleep? Who is your wife?” said Wilson Twamuhabwa, the Chief Executive Officer of UGAFODE Microfinance Limited (MDI).
Twamuhabwa made the remarks recently after announcing UGAFODE’s group save account product at the financial institution’s head office in Wandegeya.
Besides making it easy for people to open accounts, Twamuhabwa said financial institutions must deal with issues of confidence building.
“Someone has kept money with you (financial institution) today, when he comes back tomorrow, he finds sh2000 instead of sh10,000,” he said.
He said with more people participating in the banking industry, clients will be to access cheaper credit as financial institutions will scale down on expensive credit from overseas.
“It is important for the public to know that the money we lend is got from overseas, not long ago, there was the credit crisis.”
He added: “As we continue getting voluntary deposits from customers, there is no reason why we cannot reduce on the interest rates. It is our desire to see interest rates going down.”
“We would love to see Ugandans saving more. There is a lot of money being kept in boxes and mattresses. We need to encourage Ugandans to save," added.
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