Our commercial banks at a glance

It’s a blessing that we have more than ten registered banking institutions in the Country. The government has instituted measures to provide an enabling environment for even more banking and non banking financial institutions to come into the country to ease the acquisition of credit and monetize the economy. It’s promising that we have started receiving modern banking services like phone banking and the use of smart cards. Foreign banks are also aspiring to enter Rwanda while existent ones have branches and outlets are all over the country, bringing service nearer to the people they serve. This will undoubtedly improves the culture of saving and investment because as banking services are spread all over the country over, Rwandans will be motivated to make their deposits in the banks and secure loans and other credit facilities available. In short therefore, Rwanda’s banking sector is currently healthy and one can say it is only getting better as more international banks are gunning to enter the market. Recently we had Kenya Commercial Bank following the trail of Ecobank, Finabank, Access and now we have Equity Bank coming in as well. My major appeal however to the management of our commercial banks and other microfinance institutions is to improve the quality of services rendered to us and change their attitude towards the bank-client relationship. In some of our commercial financial institutions and especially the microfinance institutions, there is a general misconceived idea that makes the client more of a ‘beggar’ than a “king”. When you go for a loan from some of these banks, you have to bow down before the authorities for your application to be considered. It appears as if the bank is actually doing you a favour by giving you this loan when actually it ought to be the direct opposite. In most developed economies, the situation is directly contrary to this. The bank will persuade a client for a bank loan because it’s the bank which was established to serve people and make profit out of these services-to the advantage of both parties, not the reverse. The way I see it, banks should understand that it’s easier to lose a customer because of poor service delivery than getting one. Its simply easier for a client to switch from one bank to another than it is for the bank to receive one more client. For the two parties to strike a balance, I would suggest that it’s important for the banks to receive their clients with open arms and try to convince them to reach out to them and purchase their products, for their businesses to flourish well with a good bank-client relationship. It’s equally important for the banks clients to live up to the terms of their agreement with their bankers. With this we shall more forward and our banking institutions will become wonderful institutions to deal with. tbenon132@gmail.com The writer is an Economist- MINISTRY OF FINANCE