Banks ‘risk lagging’ over poor service

Eastern Province Governor, Odette Uwamariya, has expressed concern over poor service delivery in financial institutions and among individual businesspersons, warning that it could affect the sector if not changed. She was addressing hundreds of Bank of Kigali (BK) clients, at a ‘get together’ meeting in Rwamagana over the week-end.Bank of Kigali has a tradition of meeting with its clients, across the country, annually.Uwamariya said that banks and individual businesspersons should move for drastic changes, to improve the services they give their clients.“We must change or risk lagging behind in the region as far as service delivery is concerned...it is a great disservice and a disadvantage to everybody. Studies have proven extreme poor services...it is thus a sad reality,” she said.The Governor also used the occasion to appeal to area businesspersons, to invest in hotels and other projects to spur development.“There is no reasonable hotel in the Province...this shows weaknesses in investment choices we make. We cannot accommodate high profile officials, for instance”.She also challenged banks to advertise all their products, noting that some were not known to their clients.“There are some loans and services in your bank only known to a handful of people”.The Managing Director of BK, James Gatera, reiterated the need to improve service delivery, adding that BK officials had special briefing to the effect.“There shouldn’t be any BK official serving clients poorly...let such clients report him or her immediately. We introduced ATM and Visa cards to serve clients conveniently,” he said.Gatera added that his bank had started offering long term loans, to cater for the needs of the people.“We now offer loans of up to 10 years, which were usually for 5 years.10 BK branches are opened across the country every year...it is all about serving the people,” he said.

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Banks ‘risk lagging’ over poor service