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The First National Savings and Loans Limited opened its branch in Sunyani on Friday with a call on the youth, especially students to cultivate the habit of saving as the lead their parents on the road to that virtue. Mr. Samuel Addo-Nortey, Finance manager of the bank, who made the call, stressed that if people saved in the banks and other financial institutions, the cycle of poverty that has gripped most of our people in the country would be greatly reduced. He said it was in helping to alleviate poverty that the bank aimed to be the "People's Bank" by providing its customers with a nationwide network of full-service branches to traders, market women, farmers, students, workers and small scale business enterprises. "First National's aim is to provide our wonderful customers a convenient way to save and obtains credit. For the traders who travel across the country, we aim to provide a safe and secure way to access their money to transact business", the finance manager added. Mr. Addo-Nortey said the bank, which started operations in 2006, currently had 42, 677 customers and had disbursed a tot al of 23.97 million Ghana cedis loans to clients and has 20 branches located in all the regions in the country. He said plans were far advanced to open five more branches in 2010 in fulfillment of the bank's vision to be the "People's Bank" and would introduce services such as financial advisory services, business advisory services and one-on-one relationship personal banking. The bank's products and services to meet the unique needs of customers include "Wo Daakye" savings account, which is savings for the future and designed for everyone, high earnings savings account, current account, payroll based lending, commercial loans, susu loans and farmer based loans. The bank also offers microfinance or group loans, local money transfer as well as international money transfer via Western Union. Mr. Addo-Nortey said the bank had started Western Union operations in Accra, Tema, Kasoa and other branches and would be rolled out in Sunyani by the end of the month. Professor Kwasi Nsiah Gyabaah, Principal of Sunyani Polytechnic who presided advised the youth to plan for their future to avoid financial problems that their parents faced. "Learn to save in the banks to help eliminate poverty", he said and urged staff of the bank to work assiduously and shun fraudulent practices that could mar the image of the bank.