When Sterling Bank opened a new branch at Itire, Lagos last week, its intention was to provide financial services to people who have restricted access to banking, either they don’t have bank account or the accounts they have are in branches that are far away, either from their workplace or house.
With the bank’s existing over 300 branches, it proposes to open at least 20 branches per quarter this year. However, the demands of a particular area would determine the bank’s consideration.
“We also propose over 1000 agents to drive financial inclusion because it is easy to have agents to meet with customers than to set up a complete branch,” Devendra Puri, executive director, Lagos Business, Sterling Bank, said.
The bank is now fully into retail and wants to reach out to people who have difficulty in banking, he said while speaking with journalist recently.
“This enables us to open branches in areas which are unbanked. This is a branch, a small branch though, but we are supplementing the branch with our agency banking which goes by financial inclusion. The idea is to include as many people as possible,” he said, saying he recognised that Nigeria had high percentage of people who were unbanked, and in about some couple of months ago, the bank was first to start financial inclusion in the country.
According to him, the idea is to have a sort of hub because if we have a branch here, I think this community is solved.
“Beside this, we are now in various areas through our agency banking. This becomes the hub because all the account domiciled here including those who are unbanked could take advantage of their nearness to the bank to avoid keeping money at home.
“All that is required is for them to open an account and the bank through its agents will be on ground at the doorstep.
“This will actually cover this two markets in the physical form and in the virtual form, three kilometres across the branch in all areas, everybody will be covered.
“We would have agents going out meeting customers opening their accounts and the customers would not have to come to the branch at all. The accounts will be with Sterling Bank, they can do their transactions there, they can make deposits and withdraw through the agents. In fact, everything can be done through the agents” he said.
HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE
