Business & Finance: GTBank gives knock-on effect of savings

The hope that one may start an investment, or buy a house or a car, or take care of a sudden happening without saving money for it, can best be called a pipe dream – an idea or plan very unlikely to happen – except if it comes on a silver platter.

Therefore to avoid living on a wing and a prayer it is advisable to be saving some money away instead of just spending it.

Money can be kept somewhere for transaction, precautionary or speculative motives, but the best place people leave their money for safe keeping is the bank.

There are many commercial banks in The Gambia that offer this service and one among them is Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank), which has  dedicated 2011 to the call for savings, under its 2011 slogan of ‘savings is a good culture’.

The bank says it is preaching savings this year because it is a culture which, when adopted by a people, can substantially alleviate poverty as the dreams of people come to pass through making use of their savings.

“What we are preaching this year is savings, because the level of savings of a country determines the level of investment in that country; the level of investment determines the level of growth; growth determines the level of development, and development wipes or erases poverty,” GTBank Managing Director Olalekan Sanusi says. “So our slogan this year is that ‘savings is a good culture; let everybody adopt it’.”

The bank, according to MD Sanusi, has two key products for savings: GTSave and Smart Kid Save.

Mr Sanusi outlines his bank’s life-changing products that can also serve well on a rainy day: “We have two products in GTBank for savings. As an adult you can come and open what we call GTSave, which is like a regular savings account and it pays you 5% interest on average balance.

“The other product is SKS - Smart Kid Save – which is the savings account for children below 18 years, and the aim is to inculcate the idea of savings in our little kids so that by the time they become adults they will realise the fact that ‘Every one dalasi I gain I need to put something aside.’ Savings is very good because it helps in the case of a rainy day.”