Editor,

I read with keen interest Rama Isibo’s article on banking. While it is, of course, very encouraging to see such a sharp increase in the customer base, Rama Isibo is very right in raising concerns about the servicing of so many additional customers. A particular concern raised is about the paying of school fees.

Please allow me to share with you how many schools in Mumbai have worked around this challenge. They have given banks space to open extension counters in the school premises itself.

These extension counters, not only serve the staff and students of the school, but also locals living in the vicinity of the school.

This has proved to be a win-win situation both for the banks, who did not have to scout around for premises and also for the schools who now have a full range of banking services at their doorstep.

In India, too, formerly customers of one bank had to pay for using ATM facilities of another bank. The Reserve Bank of India, as the governing body of the banking industry, has now made it necessary for banks to provide ATM facilities even to customers of other banks at no cost.

Such co-operation has enabled banks to open ATMs at newer locations, thereby spreading their reach to more customers and to new locations.

Kind regards

Clarence Fernandes
Chairman, Rwanda Renaissance
clavinmarketing@hotmail.com