Most salaried workers trade their income-Banker

Most salaried workers trade their income for huge asset finance loans to buy appliances, a trend which put many family units at risk thus leaving them with little to cater for basic necessities. Mr Dolapo Ogundimu, Managing Director of Access Bank Ghana, who made the observation, however, stressed that workers should learn to save first before spending their monies. He was speaking at the launch of the Bank�s �Easy Access Promo�, which was organised in Accra on Thursday. The promotion, which seeks to reward loyal customers of the Bank, also aims at deepening the savings culture among Ghanaians and to empower individuals to save, own and operate their own bank accounts. Mr Ogundimu said �anyone with sufficient savings is an empowered individual and this is very important to us at Access Bank�. �The amounts in savings determine what is available to invest in the economy,� he added. Mr Ogundimu said improvement in the level of savings for investment had the tendency to reduce average cost of funds for banks, which in turn had a lowering impact on bank�s lending rate and the general cost of doing business in Ghana. He announced that the Bank had automated most of their operations and processes to reduce cumbersome paperwork and paper wastage. Mr Ogundimu said �we are migrating all our monthly customer statements to electronic versions by the end of August.� �This will afford customers a lot more convenience as they will be able to reconcile their transactions not more than five days after the end of month,� he added. Mr Ogundimu said Access Bank would be announcing some innovative products and service, including the introduction of the Bank�s new �accesslink card�. The card is expected to provide convenience to customers through the GH-Link platform. Speaking on the promotion, Mr Stephen Abban, Group Head Retail Banking of Access Bank Ghana, said the promotion would run for three months, beginning August 15th to November 15th. He said the promotion was opened to existing and new current and savings account holders of the Bank. Mr Abban said to enter the promotion, a customer had to deposit GH�200 and increase their chances of winning by putting multiples of the amount in their account throughout the promotion period. He said there would be two monthly mini draws in the months of September and October to reward early adopters of the campaign. Mr Abban said, �The grand draw at the end of November will reward the ultimate prize winner and other winners with consolation prizes�. �Over 55 prizes including generator sets, flat screen, LED televisions and DVD players, smart phones and tablets, would be given away during the promotion period,� he added. The ultimate winner is expected to drive home a sleek 2013 iX35 brand of Hyundai vehicle.