GTBank doles out D65,000 to ‘Smart Kids’ account holders

In a bid to contributing to building a brighter future for children of The Gambia, GTBank has continued to upkeep its business ethics by sharing with its ‘Smart Kids’ account holders to encourage parents to inculcate the habit of saving for their children. Guaranty Trust Bank on Thursday disbursed D65,000 to twenty ‘Smart Kids Save’ (SKS) account holders as a way of “rewarding them for their patronage as well as instill the habit of savings into children. Pic: Managing Director, Guaranty Trust Bank, Mr. Olalekan Sanusi At the presentation ceremony held at the bank’s Jimpex branch, five of the twenty awardees were given a cheque for D2,500 each, for being the first people to nurture the confidence and trust in GTBank to open the SKS account for their children, and the fifteen were awarded cheques for amounts ranging from D1,500 to D10,000, based on how the account is managed. SKS is one of GTBank’s superb accounts parents can use to save for the future of their children. It is designed to introduce kids to the habit of banking and to give them a sense of responsibility. The minimum opening balance of the account is D200. “These children and their parents were selected based on criteria,” Olalekan Sanusi, managing director of GTBank explained. “It’s is not based on how much money is in your account but how the account is managed. It is to award parents who every month, consistently, will put at least a token into this account and they don’t make any withdrawal; such parents need to be commended and encouraged. Parents who maintain very high level of balance in their [children’s] accounts and keep on adding more money are the ones we select to give them cash that they can add on to their SKS account. “It’s our own little way of contributing to build a brighter future for their children and also to encourage other parents to emulate them in building a strong future for the children of The Gambia.” He said further: “Also, we are awarding the five first people who opened the SKS account for their children because they are the first set of people who developed the confidence and trust in GTBank as earlier as 2002 to open the SKS account for their children with the aim of putting their children on a stronger footing. “What each of you as a parent is doing is of great significance to the development of The Gambia as a country. In simple economic terms, savings is key to economic development of any country.  Every income you earn and save something aside helps the economic development of our children and the country at large. This is so because, the level of savings in a country actually determines the level of investment that can take place in that economy; the level of savings in an economy actually determines the amount of money at the disposal of the commercial banks to lend to those who want to invest, and the level of investment in turn determines the level of economic growth in every economy. “Growth is a short term thing, consistent growth over a long period would lead to economic development and eventually development leads to eradication of poverty, and every government wants to put poverty into the dustbin and one way of putting poverty into the dustbin permanently is for every citizen to inculcate the habit of saving.” The message of GTBank this year is: ‘Let’s all of us inculcate the habit of savings’.  MD Sanusi says that though it is difficult sometimes to sustain, savings is good for a person and once the habit of saving has been developed it can be sustained propelled by the benefits and merits that are gained from savings, which range from salvaging one in a rainy day to being able to develop the seed capital for investment.  “It’s only a game of determination,” Olalekan Sanusi noted. With 15 branches across the length and breadth of the country, GTBank, the 3rd largest bank in The Gambia, has firmly positioned itself to meeting the banking needs of the people of The Gambia. In 2009, GTBank was the 2nd most profitable bank in The Gambia and is determined to meeting the banking aspirations of people across the length and breadth of the country. MD Sanusi again: “We have been in operation for about nine years now and this year we will be in our ten years of operation in The Gambia. The Gambian society has been very supportive of GTBank, as they continue to patronize the bank. “As we speak today GTBank is the third largest bank in The Gambia. We owe that to the Gambian people, who have developed confidence in us, because to patronise a bank there must be confidence that you have in the bank.”

GTBank in ‘duel’ with former employee over D500,000 wrongful termination claim

Lamin Jahateh, Banjul Guaranty Trust Bank has continued to contest a D500,000 claim by its former employee Mam Nabou Sambou, who has sued the bank to court for wrongful termination of her services. Mam-Nabou Samba, who was contracted to work for GTBank as transaction officer, is claiming special damages of D500,000 general damages for breach of contract, interest, and cost. The ongoing trial between the plaintiff and the defendant proceeded on 7 February at the Industrial Tribunal in the Kanifing Magistrates’ Court before Magistrate Dayoh Small Dago with the testimony of one Neneh Njie, a bank official at GTBank. Asked by the defence lawyer Christopher C.E. Mene to explain when and how appraisal are done in the bank, since on the evidence of the plaintiff, her immediate boss is responsible for her appraisal; Neneh Njie, who claimed to be the immediate boss of the plaintiff, denied the point, saying that in GTB, appraisals are done every June by members of the bank. “It is a process and in that process the appraisee, appraiser, a group head, MD, and an appraisal committee are involved,” Mrs Njie said, adding: “In this process, my recommendation is not the final stage but part of the process.” At that juncture, reports were tendered by the defence to the witness to confirm whether they were the appraisal reports on the plaintiff, but Ms Njie said she would not call those reports appraisal reports since some of the exhibits were not complete. The report on exhibit H, she said, stopped only at where she made her comments on her own evaluation of the plaintiff’s performance but had not covered up to where the final stage would end. After the evidence of the witness, the case was adjourned until 15 February 2011. Guaranty Trust Bank, through its Orange Rules, is committed to the growth of the individual and societal capital, the bank’s corporate statement states, saying the rules include simplicity, professionalism, service, friendliness, excellence, trustworthiness, social responsibility and innovation.

GTBank earmarks D4 million for ‘Gambia for Gold’

By Lamin Jahateh, Banjul Guaranty Trust Bank, a leading bank in The Gambia, has earmarked D4 million for ‘Gambia for Gold’, which is an initiative of the Gambia government through the Ministry of Youth and Sports to mobilize funding for the country’s national football teams. GTBank has committed itself to giving one million dalasis to ‘Gambia for Gold’ each year, starting from 2011, for the period of four years. This agreement was sealed on Friday at a signing ceremony held at the Ministry of Youth and Sports in Banjul. Pic: GTBank MD, Olalekan Sanusi, Signing the Agreement “One million dalasis every year is our pledge and that is the contract we have signed today. We have already factored it into our budget and we have committed one million dalasis every year in support of football in the country,” GTBank’s Managing Director Olalekan Sanusi said.  “We want to make it clear that doing this does not mean it’s the best we can do; we will still continue to look for opportunities and ways through which we will continue to support sports, football in particular, for the interest of all of us.” He continued: “Today we are making history. I remember my professor tell me that there are so many categories of people in life: there are people who make history, there are people who watch history being made, and there are people who join as history is being made.  We are fortunate to be the set of people to make history in Gambian sports, particularly football.” One thing that is very essential in sports is financing, MD Sanusi avers, saying that his bank that has served the Gambia Football Association (GFA), they would never sit by and see the FA in need and refuse to give them a helping hand. “So when this initiative was launched, we say we will be part of the history that Gambia for Gold is making and coincidentally we owe the responsibility to The Gambia,” the GTBank MD said. “We have been in operation for about nine years now and this year we will be in our ten years of operation in The Gambia; so we were saying that as part of our ten-year celebration we must launch a major thing for the society.  So when this opportunity came it was extremely timely and we are happy that it was the authorities themselves that have created such initiative; so we as an institution have just joined the bus as way to mark our own ten years of operation in The Gambia.” The Gambian society has been very supportive of GTBank as they continue to patronize the bank.  “As we speak today GTBank is the third largest bank in The Gambia. We owe that to the Gambian people, who have developed confidence in us, because to patronise a bank there must be confidence that you have in the bank,” Mr Sanusi said.  “The people have developed confidence in us and have given us the patronage. Although we have been sponsoring a number of other programmes, we think it’s high time to give something significant to the society, and fortunately we have chosen something that is very dearly to the heart of every Gambian - football is such an important sport that we all love very dearly and I will implore all Gambians, both individuals and institutions, to rise at this occasion and we all come to the rescue of football.” Apart from the bank’s D4 million commitment, the GTBank MD revealed, the bank has opened an account for ‘Gambia for Gold’. GTBank runs a network called Online Real Time, which means anywhere you are in The Gambia - whether in Basse, Farafenni or Brikama -  you can pay money into this account and it will be credited directly into the account of ‘Gambia for Gold’.  MD Sanusi said: “The account number is 202153665110, and what we intend to do is that in all our banking halls we are going to display this account number so that for every individual who comes to the bank, we are going to encourage them to put something into this account. Your five dalasis you put into this account will go a long a way in the support of football in the country.” Minister of Youth and Sports Sheriff Gomez, in his remarks, said his ministry is striving to mobilise resources to make sure the Gambia’s national football teams are unhindered in their preparations for international competitions. “We may not get everything we need at the right time but I think what is important is that the whole country should realize that this effort must get us all to start by now what becomes our contribution towards this endeavour,” Hon. Gomez said. He continued: “The coach understands that he has to prepare the team so that they can play the ball and win; the GFA knows they have to do the technical preparations; the ministry knows it is their job to raise funds for the national teams, and Gambians and non-Gambians in The Gambia know their part, which is to make sure that we contribute to the funding and resource mobilization for the teams. “We are appealing for everybody to come together to put in the resources. Now is the time to put in our resources; when it comes to the marches we put our moral support.” Tombong Saidy, Chairperson of ‘Gambia for Gold’,  for his part , said  that even before GTBank came as the banking partner of ‘Gambia for Gold’, the bank was doing a lot in supporting sports in the country.  “GTBank has been helping football in this country; so it is befitting that they have come on board as a bank partner for Gambia for Gold, and we really appreciate it, and we applaud their efforts.” He added: “GTBank will give us 4 million in four years, meaning every year they will give us one million and every quarter they will give us quarter of a million before the period ends. So we are guaranteed that money will be coming in steadily.” Mr Saidy, in conclusion, appeals to the nation, saying: “Once again and I am appealing to the public to come forward and support ‘Gambia for Gold’, because we need to raise between D32 to D64 million in the next four years so that we can finance the national teams, especially the senior team.”

Central Bank to revoke some banking licenses

By Lamin Jahateh, The Gambian Banker, Banjul Six out of the fourteen banks in the country are at risk of having their banking licenses revoked by the Central Bank of The Gambia due to their inability to raise their minimum capital requirement to D150 million by December this year, as directed by the Central Bank of The Gambia. Two years ago, the Central Bank of The Gambia raised the minimum capital requirements of commercial banks to D150 million and D200 million to be observed by end December 2010 and 2012 respectively “in order to strengthen the country’s banking system”. Hitherto, the minimum capital requirement was pegged at D60 million. The Minister of Finance, Hon Abdou Kolley, while tabling the budget statement and economic policy financial year 2011 before the National Assembly in Banjul on Friday, said the latest assessment indicates that eight of the fourteen banks had already met the capital requirement of D150 million. “The six banks that are yet to meet the requirements are being rigorously monitored by the Central Bank of The Gambia,” he said. Although the Central Bank of The Gambia is optimistic that all banks would observe the capital requirement, the Finance Minister said: “The CBG is resolved not to grant request for forbearance if a bank fails to meet the requirement and to mitigate systemic risk that may arise from the revocation of a banking license, the CBG shall take the following actions: invoke section 45 of the Banking Act 2009 and take over the bank, thereafter the CBG may invoke Sections 48 and 51 of the Banking Act 2009 and place the institution in conservatorship to be sold, merged or restructured, and apply to the High Court for compulsory liquidation under Section 52 of the Banking Act as a last resort.” While announcing the increment of the minimum capital two years ago, the Central Bank says the action has been taken in view of its desire to deepen the financial sector and "in pursuance of the Gambia’s Vision 2020 aim of transforming the country into a financial centre" Thisday, a Nigerian newspaper has reported that the Managing Director of GTBank said the new capital base had increased the challenges of banks operating in the country. Mr Lekan Sanusi said only the creative financial institutions were likely to survive the industry competition and deliver returns commensurate to the expanded capital base. The Gambia, which used to be serviced by less than four commercial banks until a few years ago, has in recent times been affected by the phenomenon of an upsurge in the number of banks registered here, mainly from Nigeria. GTBank MD said the Gambia could only take a certain number of banks. He was quoted as saying: "But do we really need as many as 14 banks in a relatively small country like The Gambia? If you divide the number of banks in this country by the population of about 1.7 million, you have an average of 100,000 people per bank. Revenue is going down. What I know is that in the long run, people will count their numbers. At the end of the 2009 financial year, the Gambia’s banking industry recorded total loss of about 45 million Dalasis. Ten of the banks declared losses.