Olumide Olatunji
The Banker Award honoured Access Bank Ghana with the Global Financial Inclusion Award at the 2020 ‘Bank of the Year’ Awards virtual announcement in London on December 2.
The Financial Times owned magazine’s annual awards are regarded as the industry standard for banking excellence.
The bank received the award in light of its women empowerment agenda, and making good its objective on financial inclusion with the introduction of a new savings account targeted at women groups with limited access to financial services.
The account called “Live B3ta” was an insurance-embedded group savings account linked to a mobile money wallet and designed to drive behavioural change towards savings, micro-insurance and credit.
Giving insights on the project during the live virtual announcement, Group Head for Retail Banking at Access Bank Ghana, Matilda Asante-Asiedu said, “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.”
With funding support from MasterCard Foundation and the Oxford Policy Management (OPM), “Live B3ta” is under the 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.
Acknowledging the award during the virtual ceremony, Managing Director for Access Bank Ghana, Olumide Olatunji, said financial inclusion had been a key pillar in the bank’s business strategy for over five years and is proud that its efforts are having an impact and being recognized.
“As a true 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,” he noted.