Heritage Bank Plc has registered its presence in Ogijoin the Sagamu
Local Government Area of Ogun State; with the commissioning of Dunmop Ventures
as agent banking partner under the financial inclusion policy of the Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which is designed to bring banking services to the
under-banked in Nigeria.
The bank recently inaugurated the corner shop as its agent banking partner to carry out agent banking transactions on beside the 74th Battalion of the Nigerian Army and PZ manufacturing outfit along the Shagamu Road in Ikorodu area of Lagos State to provide agency banking services for its customers that live in the area.
The agent bank will handle account opening, cash deposit,
funds transfer; cash withdrawal and bills payment among others.
Mrs. Oluwakemi Adewunmi, who is in charge of agent banking
in South West and South-South for the bank, at the opening ceremony said the
bank has signed on more than 500 agents since it commenced the programme about
two years ago.
She noted that the bank was using the agency banking system
to bring banking services to the door steps of the rural communities in the
country.
According to her, based on the market survey Heritage Bank
carried out on the neighbourhood, the people living in the community used to
travel over a distance of a minimum of 7km before reaching the nearest bank in
Ikorodu anytime they needed to do banking transaction.
Again, she added that financial transactions could now be
carried out seven days a week without regard to weekends and public
holidays.
Her words: “Financial transaction could be done at any time,
any day notwithstanding whether it is weekend or public holidays.”
Adewunmi explained that customers can open bank accounts,
deposit cash, transfer money even to other banks and also pay bills.
Managing Director of Dunmop Ventures, Mr. Kale Adekitan said
they were very happy to be appointed as an agent of Heritage Bank, adding that
they felt they should make contribution to the growth and development of the
community which lacked banking facilities as residents had to travel to Ikorodu
or Ogijo to be able to have access to banking facilities.
He said they had created enough awareness among the
residents and the military community as well as community leaders and the
responses had been very encouraging.
Some soldiers and residents who spoke on condition of
anonymity said they were very happy for the opening of the agent banking
facility in the community.
The agency banking policy was sequel to a research conducted
by an international agency, Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access (EFINA)
in 2008 which showed that about 74 percent of Nigeria’s rural community was
un-banked. Against this backdrop, the CBN therefore initiated the policy with
the aim of reducing the figure by 20 percent by 2020 to ensure greater
participation in the nation’s financial sector.
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