Tamale, May 20, GNA - Ecobank Ghana on Thursday inaugurated a branch in Tamale and also launched the Ecobank mobile savings account under its mass savings project. The opening of the Tamale branch brings to 53 the number of Ecobank branches in the country with branches in the Greater Accra, Western, Central, Volta, Ashanti, Eastern, Brong-Ahafo and Northern regions and has presence in 32 African countries. Inaugurating the branch Mr Samuel Ashitey Adjei, Ecobank Managing Director, described the bank as one with a national outlook and said its presence in Tamale was in line with the bank's mission to provide convenient, accessible and reliable products and services to its clients. He said the bank was a strategic partner in the economic development of the country and had always strived to be in the forefront of the banking industry by providing innovative financial products and services.

Mr Adjei said the opening of the Tamale branch had not only brought banking services to the door steps of its numerous customers in the north but would also provide services to the country's land locked neighbours. Mr Van Lare Dosoo, Ecobank Ghana Board Chairman, said the presence of the bank in the Northern Region positioned it to support the momentum of the economic growth of the region by providing financial products and services including access to credit. Mr Nicholas Oko Sai, Head of the Banking Supervision Division, Bank of Ghana, commended Ecobank for making a positive impact on the Ghanaian economy and that it had taken a lead role in facilitating the exploration for oil in the country. He said the era in which banks concentrated their activities to the urban centres were past and urged banks to use new technologies to bring their services closer to the people.

Mr Sai said only about 34 percent of the country's population had bank savings with about 60 percent not patronizing any banking services. Mr Moses Bukari Mabengba, the Northern Regional Minister, said Ecobank could not have come to Tamale at a better time than now when government was seeking collaborators in executing its 93Better Ghana" agenda. He said the region had a lot of untapped potential in the areas of agriculture and trade and also served as a trading hub to neighbouring countries such as Burkina-Faso, Mali and Niger and urged the bank to take advantage of this to stimulate vibrant business between Ghana and its neighbours.