Chilima urges banks to provide better services
Vice-President Saulos Chilima has urged commercial banks to strike a good balance between profitability and good services, saying this is a critical challenge affecting the banking sector.
Speaking during the opening of the Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE)-listed NBS Bank plc private banking suite at the Presidential Villas in Lilongwe on Wednesday, he said while there is a lot of vibrancy in the corporate world, including the banking sector, good service should be given priority.
Said Chilima: “The level of customer care by your staff needs to match the standard infrastructure you are operating in. From a customer perspective, how bank frontline staff treat customers matters more than anything else.
“Striking a satisfactory balance between bank profitability on the one hand and the provision of good banking service to all sectors of the community on the other hand, is a challenge on which the commercial banks and the Reserve Bank of Malawi must work on together.”
He said while it is appreciated that the cost of providing banking facilities and infrastructure in a populated country such as Malawi can be significant, it is important that the level of banking charges should be seen to be commensurate with the quality of service.
“We have all noticed or are noticing that the NBS Bank is continuously launching new products and services to serve their customers better. This must be commended. In everything we do, we must strive and innovate so that we serve people better. We see that the ship is turning and yes, turning in the right direction,” said Chilima.
NBS Bank chief executive officer Kwanele Ngwenya said the launch of NBS Bank private banking shows the bank is heading in the right direction and will reclaim its rightful position in the banking sector.
“We have been engaging our customers and through such engagements, we are coming up with innovative products that will continue exciting our customers. We are going to offer the best private banking in Malawi and all this has been possible because of the support of our customers,” he said.
NBS Bank board director Mathews Mtumbuka said the bank has been through turbulent times, but now is on the sound footing and the future looks bright.
“This time last year, many were sceptical about NBS Bank survival and some predicted that the bank would not see the end of 2017,” he said. n
