Editor,

We refer to the publication in your newspaper dated Wednesday 27th May 2009 on ECOBANK’s  procedure of cashing cheques, headlined; ‘ECOBANK should look into this…’’ by Robert Kimenyi of Remera.

Whilst the bank regrets the inconvenience caused to the complainant as a result of our inability to reach the issuer for confirmation of the cheque, we wish to emphasise that: Ecobank resorted to the confirmation of all cheques above Frw100, 000 in response to several incidents of falsification of client cheques that led to fraudulent withdrawals from client accounts. In most cases such confirmation usually takes only a couple of minutes and the beneficiary is immediately served without any noticeable delay at all.

In the few instances where the issuer of the cheque cannot be reached, we count on the beneficiary of the cheque to help us reach the issuer.

Even though this exercise is time consuming and expensive in terms of phone calls, the bank believes it is a worthwhile exercise as it has succeeded in stopping several cases of attempted fraud on various client accounts.

In some cases the fraudsters were arrested and are being prosecuted before the law courts. We will want to assure Mr. Robert Kimenyi and all clients of Ecobank, that the bank takes its duty of care towards its clients seriously and will do all in its power to safeguard funds held on client accounts.

This will be done whilst ensuring that our customers are not inconvenienced in any way at all. We will like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Kimenyi for bringing this to our attention.

Relevant and valuable feedback is always welcome in our effort to continue offering our valued customers convenient, reliable and accessible services.

We will equally appreciate if such feedback is accompanied by the complainant’s contact details to enable us contact them directly to clarify or handle their concerns.

Suggestions and Complaints can be emailed to feedbackerw@ecobank.com or visit our customer service quality unit at the Main Branch.

Sincerely,
Eve TUSHABE MUVUNYI
Brand & Communications Department
ECOBANK Rwanda