ECOBANK Chief Executive urges banks to partner with telcos

ECOBANK Chief Executive Albert Essien has pointed to mobile telephony as the way to go if banks in Ghana are to remain competitive.

He is urging local banks to partner telecommunication companies as a way of bringing services closer to their customers.

Mr. Essien was speaking at the 14 th edition of MTN Business World Executive Breakfast meeting in Accra on Thursday.

“Because of efficiencies; because transaction costs are high; because we need to reach out more to a larger spectrum of customers; because we need to make banking affordable, to attract more people into the pool, it is important to use technology to drive skill and to drive efficiency in terms of making processes less manual and easier to handle. So technology is important.

He also remarked: “The important thing is to get it right, because when you do get it wrong it becomes a black hole.”

The Executive Breakfast series has become the leading platform for executive briefings, networking, and business-matching for CEOs, senior management professionals and entrepreneurs in Ghana.

Commenting on the importance of the series, Rahul De, CMO of MTN, said, “being inspired ourselves is the greatest step in becoming an inspirational leader. MTN is confident that this platform will create the necessary impetus and inspiring atmosphere for all our business partners who attend the program and will help propel their businesses in the coming years”.