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| Business |
| Finance Bank eases banking |
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by
Ephraim Munthali, 09 December 2003
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16:38:50
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Finance Bank of Malawi on Monday launched a new banking system that will allow its customers access their accounts using their telephones, faxes and mobile phones, an innovation that is likely to change the face of banking in the country.
Dubbed telebanking, the technology will enable customers enquire about their bank balances, transaction details, foreign exchange and interest rates through fax and Short Message Service (SMS).
This means that Finance Bank customers will no longer find it necessary to visit their branch for every transaction unless in cases where customers cannot complete a transaction on line.
Officially launching telebanking in Blantyre, Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) deputy governor Mary Nkosi said the service means that customers will save on transport costs and their valuable time which will then be channelled to other productive areas.
“Telephone banking will also ease congestion in banking halls,” Nkosi said.
She said the launch of telebanking, the first of its kind in the country, is another significant contribution to the development of the banking sector after auto-teller machines (ATMs) and internet banking.
“Just like in Internet banking and even much more than that, telephone banking means that you can conduct business wherever and whenever you want, whether you are at home, work or on the road,” said Nkosi.
She said the financial sector has over the past 10 years been transformed due to rapid improvements in data processing, communications, deregulation, globalisation, heightened competition and drives for efficiency.
But Nkosi said the changes have been met by sophisticated customers whose expectations demand options for conducting banking transactions to allow them choose convenient and efficient channels.
Nkosi, therefore, noted that the banking fraternity need to change its mindset, abandon some of the orthodoxies of doing business, make a paradigm shift and embrace strategic thinking to secure and preserve its competitive advantage.
She said the sector has to adopt a ‘right channelling’ concept in the delivery of its products and services which, in this case, entails building a multi-channel architecture to meet the ever changing customer needs.
Nkosi said innovation is now a principle competitive instrument taking centre stage that is distinguishing the successful firms of tomorrow from the bureaucratic and inflexible ones.
“In this era, the old dictum that size matters has been superseded by a new emphasis on customer satisfaction, efficiency and value creation. It is, therefore, commendable that banks such as Finance Bank are prepared to go an extra mile in improving their products and service delivery systems,” she said.
Finance Bank chairman Rajan Mahtani disclosed that his board has just approved a K53 million (US$500,000) investment in technology that will see the bank attract more clients and increase its market share.
With assets in excess of K3 billion, the bank, established in 1995, has branches in Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu.
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