AN OPEN LETTER TO THE BANK OF GHANA

The world of banking has undergone several remarkable evolutions within the past decades. As expected in Ghana, the number of banks has increased considerable in response to the needs of our vastly growing population. Each day, a new bank comes into our market and so, the responsibility of our central bank, the Bank of Ghana, becomes more stringent.

For a fact, the Bank of Ghana is not only responsible for ensuring that the basic requirements or needs for establishing any bank are met, but is also required in ensuring that standards are maintained. Several people have in the past switched banks because a particular need was not satisfied or general conditions of services were poor! The new banks that have come into existence are all going all out to ensure that their customers are satisfied.

One bank however, still seems to be lurking behind in terms of basic customer care! Although this particular bank has been in existence for several decades and scores, it is still struggling to keep up with modern banking requirements and demands, especially in the area of customer service! I know you would have by now guessed! Your guess is as good as mine!

Ghana Commercial Bank! I am still trying to understand what the problems of this bank is in the area of customer care, and till now, I am yet to come up with something conclusive! Ghana Commercial Bank has failed a lot of us in the past, and still does! It is always frustrating and annoying, when on a typically busy day, one has to queue up in one of the ultramodern and yet, traditional Ghana Commercial Bank environments, waiting endlessly for a teller who would never show up. For a reason better known to this bank, it is a normal occurrence in any branch to find several teller booths empty whiles customers have to painstakingly queue up in the two or three workable ones for several hours. This is something I have tried understanding and have never been able to do so. The question is: Is Ghana Commercial Bank under-resourced? It is obvious that in most of their branches, there are usually two or more empty teller booths! What is the reason, and the excuse? I want to know.

When it comes to the issue of delivery of services, there are other hitches. Some workers in this bank are simply lazy! That is a general problem in Ghana! Workers show up, but are unwilling to carry out their responsibilities; something that they would be paid for! Very ironic! A normal request for replacement of atm cards and other problems related to ezwich cards is most often a nightmare! These are issues or problems that have left most of us stranded! Requesting for a mere checkbook or replacement, takes several weeks. Under normal circumstances, these are issues that must be attended to as a matter of urgency! And yet, some workers in this bank have different opinions as to what is important or urgent and what is not! In basic customer service, whatever a customer requests for is of importance or urgency!

It is a usual phenomenon for customers of this bank to make several trips just in pursuit of a basic service, most of which other banks are now providing via phone or internet! Sometimes a mere direction to the person-in-charge can be a nightmare! No one knows who is in charge of what! I have on several occasions had the feeling that it is a general practice for customers to be bullied into accepting whatever services they receive! Some workers actually force you into accepting their own demands, as a solution to the needs of request of customers!

This is a wakeup call to the management of this bank! As a Ghanaian, this bank is a state property! Over the past years, several international banks have come into the country and are serving citizens well and even better! It is a shame that our own bank is failing us! Is it then surprising that citizens prefer to do business with most of these foreign banks? Absolutely not!

Anna Esi Hanson ([email protected]), Takoradi.