By Stanley Opara, Banjul, Gambia

Monday, 1 Nov 2010

Operators in the banking sector have been urged to leverage on joint finance provision to develop the real sector of the economy.

Speaking at the 2010 Annual Course for Finance Reporters, organised by the Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, in Banjul, Gambia on Friday, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, GT Bank Gambia, Mr. Lekan Sanusi, said such partnership would help reduce the level of risk individual banks were exposed to.

According to him, African economies need a drastic approach to infrastructural development, and all stakeholders in the financial sector should work together in this regard.

Sanusi, however, noted that in doing this, the issue of good corporate governance, proper risk management mechanisms and qualitative banking practice should be properly addressed.

He said syndication of facilities like loans among financial institutions was crucial in an economy, to ensure that important projects were not starved of funds and were executed within the required time frame.

”Leaving just a bank to execute a huge project with a lot of financial commitments may lead to failure of such projects,” he said, adding that in Gambia, for instance, major projects had been successfully completed as a result of syndication of loans among banks for such projects.

Sanusi, however, said that banks in Africa should resolve to provide quality services to all customers, noting that they must also be determined to achieve their missions and visions, using a combination of robust technology and well trained, motivated human capital.

According to him, this will give them the edge in the global financial services sector.

He maintained that African banks should be at the fore-front of innovation and see the need for consistent growth in all key indicators of performance.

Speaking on the success of the bank in Gambia, Sanusi said GTBank Gambia was appointed by Visa International as the first Gambian bank principal member of Visa.

He said, ”Till date, the bank has remained the only bank in Gambia to be appointed. This appointment granted the bank the right to issue its own branded Visa card, deploy Visa card enabled Automated Teller Machines and also Visa card enabled Point of Sales terminals in its locations in Gambia.

”This appointment represents a key milestone for the bank within the realm of its five-year strategic plan that was unveiled in 2006.”

Sanusi, therefore, said the bank had started the issuance of its own branded Visa card denominated in Gambian dalasis. This, he said, was acceptable in more than 29 million locations and over one million ATMs on the globe.

 Source: Punch