Access Bank Ghana has received global recognition for its great strides being made toward financial inclusion at the 2020 ‘Bank of the Year’ Awards in line with its pride in investing its resources towards activities that are economically progressive, environmentally conscious and socially responsible.
In light of its women empowerment agenda and with funding support from MasterCard Foundation and Oxford Policy Management (OPM), Access Bank Ghana aims to bridge the gender gap in access to financial services with its ‘Live B3ta’ group savings account, coming top amongst its competitors to receive the Financial Inclusion Award.
The prestigious Banker Awards is organized by the Financial Times and is regarded as the industry standard for banking excellence. This year’s edition was held virtually in London.
‘Live B3ta’ is designed to increase financial resilience within vulnerable communities by promoting a behavioural shift towards savings, micro-insurance and credit, targeting the unbanked communities largely made up of women and youth in rural areas.
The Group Head for Retail Banking at Access Bank Ghana, Matilda Asante-Asiedu throwing more light on the project during the official declaration at the awards ceremony, opined that, “Live B3ta targets informal groups, particularly women and youth in rural and peri-urban areas. The account enables groups as well as individuals to save at zero charges.
“It is also integrated with mobile money and makes it easier for customers to make transactions and allows them to use their phone numbers as an alternative to their account numbers,” she said adding that ‘Live B3ta’ is under Access Bank’s flagship ‘W’ Initiative and forms part of the OPM ‘Savings at the Frontier’ (SatF), which is aimed at improving the financial inclusion of low-income individuals and communities in sub-Saharan Africa.
According to the most recent data from the World Bank, only 37% of women in sub-Saharan Africa had access to formal financial services, compared with 48% of men.
Mr. Olumide Olatunji, the Managing Director for Access Bank Ghana upon the pronouncement of the award during the virtual ceremony expressed his acknowledgement revealing that financial inclusion has been a key pillar in the Bank’s business strategy for over 5 years and it is a joy to realize that the Bank’s effort is having an impact and duly recognised.
Sharing his thoughts on the new initiative ‘Live B3ta’ the Managing Director intimated that “the account has been able to provide a secure and safe way for the beneficiaries to keep their money and avoid the risk of losing their savings through theft and disasters. They have also benefited from financial literacy, capacity building and entrepreneurial training to help them grow their micro and small businesses to sustain their families
“With a key objective of reaching underserved and unbanked communities across the country, we are proud that ‘Live B3ta’ is giving more people within this demographic access to financial services,” he remarked.
Mr. Olatunji further asserted that “As a truly African bank, we appreciate the rapidly evolving and increasingly complex business environment in which we operate. To take the lead, anticipate and solve problems of our customers and stakeholders, we have embraced a culture of innovation and through an enterprise-wide approach, we are able to channel resources towards developing promising ideas that translate into profit and sustainable business growth”.
To build trust, Access Bank partnered with local non-governmental organisations and recruited field agents within the targeted communities. The bank is in the process of rolling out an agency banking model to increase its outreach and provide a physical presence. More than 168 community groups have signed up to ‘Live B3ta’, with women making up 72% of the customer base. The Bank’s target is to increase take-up of the account to 1200 community groups by 2021.
The ‘W’ Initiative since its establishment in 2015, has benefited over 40,000 women across Ghana through various workshops such as the ‘W’ Knowledge Hub Series and other specialised training sessions for female business leaders in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Dutch Development Bank – FMO, and other partners.
Access Bank has won many international and national accolades including the ‘Best Company in Women Empowerment Project’ and ‘Best Company in Financial Literacy & Inclusion Project’ at the 2020 Sustainability and Social Investment Awards (SSI) ceremony.
