The Head of Proven Trusted Solutions -- an employee training and development and marketing research firm in Kumasi -- Mr. Joseph Akossey has asked the central bank of Ghana to consider revising the interest rates on Treasury bills to encourage more people to deposit with banks as one of the approaches to rekindle the savings culture of Ghanaians.

He said taking this step to reduce the current soaring interest rates on Treasury bills would discourage individuals from investing heavily in Treasury bills in order to arouse people’s interest in depositing more with banks, particularly the rural and community banks, thereby empowering them to get more deposits to be given out as credit.

He said these monies -- which would largely go out to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and other trading individuals and institutions dominating the private sector -- would stimulate the economy’s growth.

Mr. Akossey, who was speaking in an interview with B&FT at the backdrop of a sales training programme organized by Proven Trusted Solutions for mobile bankers of Sekyedomase Rural Bank Limited in Kumasi, said mobile bankers play a vital role in mobilising deposits for rural banks.

He noted that the core activities of banking are deposit mobilisation and credit, for which reason the role of mobile bankers should be considered as indispensable -- adding it is against this background that his outfit is bent on building the capacity of mobile bankers.

“Rural and community banks are doing well by trying to be accessible to their target market, particularly as many banks continue to establish new branches closer to their customers and potential clients,” he observed.

He is however not happy with the fact that some rural banks invest chunks of their deposits in government Treasury bills instead of lending them out to customers as loan facilities for business activities, which have a greater capability and potential to drive economic growth.

He opined that most of these banks opt to invest in Treasury bills in the knowledge that this is risk-free as opposed to lending to the general public…which is likely to default.

He therefore advised rural and community banks to be inventive and come out with innovative products, advance more of their deposits to the general public, and also devise a genuine credit management system to retrieve loans. He is optimistic this will propel economic growth and create employment.

Mr. Akossey also advised the ARB Apex Bank Limited not to focus solely on customer services in their training of mobile bankers, but also on how to prospect for customers, handle objectives and persuade existing and new customers.

The training of the mobile bankers at Sekyedomase Rural Bank is expected to enhance their skills and help to grow the bank’s deposit and customer base.

The training course also focused on building their capacity on how to handle demanding and sophisticated customers, particularly in this competitive banking era and environment.

Proven Trusted Solutions is an employee training and development and marketing research firm in Kumasi, also offering career and interview coaching as well as provision of job-searching services.