Sierra Leone Commercial Bank (SLCB), on Wednesday 27 June 2018, launched the “mi yone SLCB teller and mi yone SLCB kiosk”, at Adonkia, in the Western Rural District. ‘Mi yone’ SLCB kiosk is a low cost digital outlet offering full-fledged banking services to the unbanked and underserved communities.
Mi yone SLCB kiosk is a fully digitalized service that creates a banking account within five minutes. It offers salary procession, cash transaction, money gram, statement collection, EDSA payment, Mercury payment and s host of other services.
According to Managing Director of SLCB, Idrissa Alooma Kamara, “For so long our people have been deprived of access to formal banking system and with these two new products , we have bring banking to your door step.”
He emphasized that only one in every five Sierra Leoneans has a bank account, noting that such figures must be improved. He added with the digital banking system they want to improve the number of account holders. They are targeting 250,000 clients every year.
The Director said several months ago they were engaged on a massive transformation programme to take the bank fully into the digital world. “The Bank is safe and sound and we are taking the lead in term of digital banking, and in the coming months we will roll out some of our other products.”
The Headman of Adonkia, Jeffery L. Kargbo, said, “The people of Adonkia appreciated this effort by SLCB, as for quite a long time now we have been waiting for such service.” He said the security of the teller is paramount, noting that their community and its environs will provide the necessary safety.
According to the Chair of the National Commission for Privatization (NCP), Umaru Napoleon Koroma, “For the Bank to overhaul its ITV structure to be in strong position in the digital work is a bold move by SLCB.”
He said it is a relief for a banking institution to be at the doorstep of its citizenry. He added that such facilities should be extended in other parts of the country, as he averred that every Sierra Leonean needs a bank account.
Giving the keynote address, the Bank Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone, Patrick Conteh, “The Bank cannot come at a better time in keeping with the call of the Bank of Sierra Leone for banks and non-bank financial institutions to do much more in support of our effort to promote financial inclusion through the introduction of innovative and affordable products and services that would attract the unbanked into the formal financial system,” he said.
He said 86 out of 191 chiefdoms do not have financial service access points, and a large proportion of financially excluded population, with only about 500,000 Sierra Leoneans having received a loan from a formal financial institution.
According to a resident of Adonkiya Isatu Koroma “I am very happy to have this system in my community. We can no longer go now to Freetown in order to open an account.” The mi yone SLCB products were official launched by the Deputy Minister of Finance Patricia Lavalie.
MJB/27/6/18
By Mohamed J. Bah
Thursday June 28, 2018.
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