Union Savings and Loans picks global banking award

Union Savings and Loans has been adjudged the Best SME Finance Company, 2014 by the Global Banking and Finance review.

Union was part of over 200 global players in the banking and finance sector honoured by the reputable UK based award organization.

Managing Director of Union Savings and Loans, Philip Oti- Mensah told Myjoyonline.com at the sidelines of the workers' end of year get together that the award is a testimony of the handwork and vision by staff of the company.

"We are the first Saving and Loans company in Ghana to be given such an award.

"We set out to position ourselves as the best SME bank and winning this award only shows our efforts have been recognized but it also means that it is just the beginning for us to do more.

Mr Oti-Mensah touted the company's philosophy to develop the capacity of Small Scale Enterprises (SME) and cited the SME clinic as one of the key selling points for the company.

"We have dedicated more than 90 per cent of our loan portfolio to the SME sector and we are going to continue doing that because we have seen that that is what wins us the prominence," he promised.

The MD also lamented the impact of dire economic challenges in the country, which he said affected some of his clients.

"Banking is all about creating loans from deposits you take and making sure those loans are repaid with interest. If your client are having challenges that threatens your survival.

He said his clients who dealt with the foreign markets were worst affected by the continued depreciation of the country's currency but the company had to take measures to interact with the customers and to see how best to resolve their challenges.

The economic difficulties notwithstanding, My Oti-Mensah said Union Savings and Loans posted profit margins for the year 2014.

"We are on track. We have grown our loan portfolio by over 200 per cent. We are still very profitable and tripled our profit margins compared to end of 2013," he announced.

While glowing in the successes of the company, Mr Oti-Mensah was quick to challenge the workers to meet their individual targets, reminding them that "at Union we will always continue to measure performance individually. I entreat all of you to ensure that you don't fall short of your individual targets because our business model does not allow non-performance."

Hardworking employees were also rewarded for their tireless efforts on the night of music and merry making.