Accra, Oct. 5, GNA - The Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) on Monday planted its 153 branch at Nima, a suburb of Accra and used the platform, to market the various products of the financial institution to residents of the sprawling business community. The ceremony was attended by chiefs and opinion leaders of the area, and a number of people; mainly traders, who queued to take advantage of the products.

Mr Samuel Sarpong, Deputy Managing Director of the bank, in charge of Operations said as the country's premier bank, opening a branch at Nima was long overdue, but expressed optimism that communities in the catchment areas of Maamobi, Accra New Town, Kokomlemle and Kanda would be able to achieve their financial dreams through the wide range of financial products and advisory services. "The opening of a branch at Nima is in fulfilment of the bank's retail banking transformation strategy," he said. Key initiatives of the strategy are to provide convenience and a pleasant environment for customers to perform their banking transactions and a stable banking communications platform to ensure that clients are served quickly.

"To this effect, GCB upgraded its banking application platform in May, 2009," Mr Sarpong said. He said the initiative had factored in training of branch staff in order to equip them with the requisite skills to provide excellent service to customers. Mr Sarpong said under the initiative 100 retail managers had been offered specialised training while personnel at more than 50 branches of the bank had been exposed to customer service training. "We have also established a Customer Service Unit, to develop a programme for the bank to improve service quality including standards. We will soon be launching the GCB Customer Promise. "This programme will inform customers about our service quality standards and provide opportunity for customers to provide regular feedback."

He used the platform to explain some products of the bank, which include Kudi Nkosuo, which allows small business owners to save regularly to be able to access loans and Kidi Star, which enable parents to save to finance the education of their children. Mrs Akua Akuete-Gogo, Accra Area Manager said the opening of the Nima branch was in line with the policy of the bank to bring banking to the level of the individual.

Alhaji Farl, Chief of Nima and Chief Imoro Baba Issah, Chairman of the Council of Ayawaso Muslim Chiefs took turns to explain the essence of banking to the public.