Accra, Oct. 30, GNA - Barclays Bank Ghana has launched Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) centre to offer tailor-made banking solutions to entrepreneurs in the sector. Mrs. Margaret Mwanakatwe, Barclays Bank's Managing Director, said the centre would help enhance the growth potential of SMEs through expert advice and by so doing consolidate portfolio rewards. The centre will also introduce a new range of attractive and competitive SME products and facilities to help them improve on their businesses.

The Barclays Bank will meet the demands of SME clients through the rollout of attractive products, supported by aggressive sales and marketing campaigns as well as strong monitoring and collection techniques.

Mrs Mwanakatwe said the SME sector had enormous potential for growth, which the commercial banks were yet to fully explore. Commercial banking functions have over the years focused on multinationals and large domestic corporate businesses with minimal attention to SMEs due to the perceived risk in the sector. "Barclays thinks that the impact of the products and services that financial institutions extend to the SMEs could be better if the relationship with them is thought through carefully, and if there is a deeper appreciation of their needs," she said.

Mr Isaac Tetteh, Head of SME Banking at Barclays Bank, said the bank was focused on building longstanding relationship with operators in the SMEs sector because it was the backbone of the country's economy and had the potential to create the needed jobs and value added services. He said the centre would constantly review products on offer with the view to offering the best to clients. The SME centre will deliver full banking services like account opening, credit application processing and limit setting and disbursement.