Stakeholders in banking sector hopeful of more digital means of providing services

In a world where technology seems to be permeating every facet of life, stakeholders in the banking industry are hopeful of a complete digital transformation in all transactions.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which unexpectedly hit every sector in the world forced individuals and companies to come up with innovative ways to survive.

Most people ended up working from home, with a lesser number of people trooping into banking halls to perform transactions for fear of contracting the disease.

Various banks in Ghana had to revamp their mobile apps to support and encourage customers to easily and conveniently access banking services, especially during the lockdown period.

With such digital platforms, customers could manage their accounts, pay utility bills, send or deposit cash, order cheque books, buy airtime, and make mobile money transactions at their convenience, without setting foot in a banking hall.

At the 24th National Banking Conference held in Accra on Tuesday, November 17, 2020, the Chartered Institute of Bankers said they are looking forward to more digital ways of accessing banking services.

The Head of Banking Supervision Department of the Bank of Ghana, Osei Gyasi, asked banks to adopt financial technology to drive the banking sector landscape.

“The banking landscape is changing from physical service delivery to digital banking platforms with a rapid adoption of financial technology. This is broadly in line with the government’s ongoing digitization program as well as the Bank of Ghana’s financial technology drive to support financial inclusion. It is a fact that financial technology will be a game-changer in the financial sector and for that matter, banks will have to scale up digital banking to be future-ready,” he noted.

On her part, the President of the Chartered Institute of Bankers Ghana (CIBG), Rev. Patricia Sappor, said even though the banking industry is looking forward to more digital transactions, there will not be job losses in the sector.

“Banking is thriving on technology. Technology is thriving on knowledge. Therefore, you need that banking knowledge to develop digital services and to create the needed convenience. So I see a lot of banking staff moving to the fintechs to help the fintechs develop the needed platforms to bring the needed convenience to customers. So even though there may be job losses, I think there is a way out where they would rather shift more to the digital platforms rather than probably being in the break and mortar branches,” she explained.

The 24th National Banking Conference was under the theme, “The Changing Banking Landscape: Leveraging the Impact of COVID-19 to be future ready.”

Source:Citibusinessroom