Barclays Attends To SMEs

BARCLAYS GHANA has commissioned a special centre that will cater for the needs of small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs). Designed to be a one-stop shop for SMEs, the centre will offer end-to-end banking solutions and also tailor-made banking solutions to entrepreneurs.

King Tackie Tawiah IV, Ga Mantse, who commissioned it Wednesday in Accra, said the establishment of the centre has come at an opportune time when the whole world is reeling under severe economic and financial problems, making access to business loans difficult.

Commending the bank for such an initiative, King Tackie Tawiah said businesses could get reliefs from the excellent advice to be offered by seasoned business consultants at the Barclays' SME Centre, particularly on best ways to manage their businesses and compete favourably on the market.

Margaret Mwanakatwe, managing director of Barclays Ghana, in a pre-commissioning remark, stated that Barclays “will enhance growth potential of SMEs through the expert financial advice and support to consolidate portfolio rewards.

“We will also introduce a new range of attractive and competitive SME products and facilities as well as facilities to help them improve upon their businesses.”

She added that the centre seeks to deepen business relationship in the SME sector through the roll-out of attractive products supported by aggressive sales and marketing campaigns, strong monitoring and collection techniques.

The MD added that Barclays is soundly capable of attending to the numerous needs of SMEs because of its performance and excellent track record.

“Barclays remains strong, well-capitalized and profitable. It is not among the banks that are being bailed out by the UK Government. We have access to the liquidity required to support our business. Our plan to raise more capital has been endorsed by the UK Government and we intend to do this from investors without accessing Government funding.”

In a speech, Prince Kofi Amoabeng, CEO of UT Financial Services, appealed to government to ensure effective addressing systems for SMEs to be tracked especially those that default in honouring their debt payments.

Also, he advised that taxes for loan provision companies should be reviewed to help them operate successfully.

By Samuel Boadi