Why don’t our banks appreciate time?

Time lost can never be regained. A stitch in time saves nine. Time is money. Those are some of the commonest time-themed proverbs that any schooled fellow is bound to have come across. Anyone in the business sector ought to be familiar with the fact that time is indeed money. The banking sector is one that benefits a lot from time. The concept of interest earned on money saved or loans borrowed is entirely premised on time. With that background, one would expect our banks to really appreciate the concept of time in its entirety. Unfortunately, according to my observation, this does not seem to be the case in the local banking industry. If you are in doubt then you should pay a visit to any of our banks after reading this article. For a start you will be amazed to find that most of our banks do not bother to indicate their operating hours at the point of entrance or anywhere eon their premises. In many cases clients only get to know the working hours of their bank from the security guard after showing up late. Others are not shy to close a few minutes before the scheduled time. Once inside, the pace at which business is conducted is annoyingly slow and frustrating. Inside most banking halls, you will typically be accosted with empty counters clearly marked with that ubiquitous sign, “CLOSED.” To find all the counters in service is so rare. Like I pointed out last week our banks are also usually slow when it comes to issuing cheque books, ATM cards and so many other services that clients may apply for. All this ironically happens in this era where the several customer care campaigns urging businesses to treat customers with the much deserved fidelity have taken place. In an effort to cushion clients from the inconvenience of long and slow queues, several banks have decided to furnish their banking halls with LCD TVs and comfortable sofas. What they forget is that many of us simply come to the bank for a quick transaction and move on to other daily engagements not to spend an afternoon in the bank sofas watching Al Jazeera news. On Thursday, I spent exactly 53 minutes in a queue behind just two people! The teller was way to slow and I could easily read the frustration on people’s faces. I wondered whether she could not see that something was amiss. I wonder why the banks have not thought about having a separate counter for those with bulk transactions. It is so draining to find yourself behind someone banking five million francs when all you want is to withdraw Rwf10,000. Many will agree with me that a trip to the bank is hardly ever a short one, especially in the afternoon when some of the staff members choose to extend their lunch break. I don’t know how many times I have had to get out of the bank queue simply because the time I had estimated to spend in the bank has elapsed and another engagement is beckoning. ssenyonga@gmail.com