Economywatch: Banking on the people with D4B up its sleeve

Trust Bank Gambia Limited stands out as the leading bank today in The Gambia in terms of posting profits and other financial indices.

The bank, which started operations 13 years ago in the country with just hundreds of millions of dalasis, currently has a total asset of about D4 billion.

“Trust Bank started operations in 1997 in a small way and can today boast of a balance sheet of over D4.1 billion,” Trust Bank’s marketing manager Dodou Niang disclosed in a recent function of the bank in Banjul where it poured in an additional D1.3 million to the RVTH Sanatorium to further boost the country’s health sector.

The rationale behind this exponential growth can be attributed to good management, competent and committed staff, supportive shareholders, and most importantly the people – the customers.

Through its extraordinary Corporate Social Responsibility intervention in many areas of national development, in addition to its sound banking services and products, the bank has been able to win the hearts and minds of the banking population of The Gambia.

The bank chooses to give back what it gets from the people in all areas of national development such as sport, education and health, through which it has given a helping hand to the AFPRC Hospital in Farafenni, the Leman Street Clinic, and the RVTH Sanatorium in Banjul.

“Our strategy as a bank is characterised by a high level of social responsibility approach which is yet again evident in the bank’s various socially responsible interventions,” Trust Bank Managing Director Pa Macoumba Njie has said.

In 2010, the bank spent D700,000 in the health sector, D980,000 in the education sector, D160,000 in the sports sector and a further D700,000 in other interventions.

The bank’s relationships with the RVTH Sanatorium, the Leman Street Clinic, secondary schools, the National Youth Service Scheme, the University of The Gambia and many other partners in development are “well known and invaluable”.

“We will never abandon our untiring efforts and commitment to build prosperity, security and a future for Gambian families and communities as we take pride in our ability to meaningfully and positively touch lives,” MD Macoumba Njie said.

“We do not view the level of CSR commitment we show to the communities we live in and serve as perfunctory. We view it as an important part of our raison d’être…. Our ability to positively influence the lives of the people in our communities is fundamental to our success, and…we do hold this responsibility sacred,” says the bank’s board chairman Ken Ofori-Atta.

Hon. Fatim Badjie, Minister of Health, also made these remarks in one of Trust Bank’s recent interventions in the health sector: “When Trust Bank gives out, the Gambians give out because Trust Bank is the only traditional bank Gambians have.”

Today, about 80% of RVTH staff accounts are held by Trust Bank Gambia Limited, the Chairman of the RVTH Management Board, Ismaila Njie, a retired Chief Nursing Officer, says.

There is nothing nobler than the people, more dignified, and more intelligent than the people. Once this is taken into consideration by any entity for that matter and does cater for the people meaningfully, then that establishment has won the hearts and minds of the people and can surely reap the dividends of such consideration. This is where Trust Bank and many other financial intermediaries in the country have managed to get the upper hand over others in the field of harvest.

GTBank Deposit Base Hits US$31M

The Managing Director of the Guaranty Trust Bank Liberia Limited or GTBank for short, Dan Orogun, has reported a customer base of 12,500 and a deposit base of US$31 million on the Bank’s third anniversary celebrated in Monrovia.

Speaking at the GTBank 13Th Street, Sinkor office on Friday, Mr. Orogun told journalists that within three years of operations in Liberia, the Bank has established six branches in various parts of the country, including Clara Town, Randall Street, Redlight, Sinkor, Ganta and Buchanan, respectively.

The bank was capitalized to the tune of US$10 million upon entry into the Liberian financial market in March 2009, Orogun said. He revealed that the amount was further increased to US$15 million in June 2010, giving the bank a competitive advantage in its business development efforts. He also disclosed that the bank is at the verge of injecting an additional US$5 million to enhance its operating capacity.

Mr Orogun at the same time noted that the GTBank intends to increase branch network in line with its long-term investment strategy in the Liberian economy, supported with its cutting-edge customized on-line real time services and electronic products.

The Liberian Times