By Hajaratu Kalokoh
The Sierra Leone Commercial Bank (SLCB) and the telecommunications operator Africell have launched a product geared towards promoting financial inclusion.
The Wallet to Bank, launched on Tuesday, is a service that will enable Africell subscribers and customers of SLCB to access financial and digital inclusion via their phones.
SLCB is one the largest commercial banks in Sierra Leone. It was established in February 1973. SLCB provides a full range of banking and financial services to corporate intuitions and the general public.
Mobile banking is a service provided by banks or financial institutions that allow their customers to conduct financial transactions using mobile phones.
According to The Bank of Sierra Leone’s national financial inclusion strategy, 80% of Sierra Leoneans do not have access to formal financial services.
However, mobile subscribers outnumber bank account holders in the country. Therefore, mobile phone banking initiative is seen as an opportunity for financial inclusion in the country.
Studies have also discovered that there is a direct correlation between the financial inclusion rate and the GDP; when more people get involved in the formal financial sector, the GDP of a country goes up at a parallel rate.
Mobile banking does not only facilitates financial inclusion, but it also makes online banking easier, reliable and faster in an effective manner at the comfort of the customer or subscriber.
Abdulai Fidelis Turay, Managing Director of SLCB, noted in the launching ceremony of the Wallet to Bank service that the collaboration with Africell is geared towards reaching the country’s financial inclusion strategy. He noted that SLCB had broken barriers by bringing on board many of the country’s population into the formal financial sector.
“This bank to wallet is something with which we help our people by bringing them into financial inclusion,” said Turay.
According to Turay, they also have another product under development, dubbed Government to People (G2P), which basically targets government employees as beneficiaries. This product, he said, enables government employees in the rural areas who cannot access SLCB offices to make transaction through mobile phone.
Joe Abass Bangura, Cooperate Affairs Officer of Africell, described the newly launched product as an innovative service that will allow Africell subscribers with bank accounts at SLCB to be able to transfer money from their account to their phone and from their phone to their bank account.
"Africell is always proud in taking lead in introducing cutting edge, voice data and Fin Tech services in the country. This will help to reduce the cost, improve the speed, comfort and security in which people can talk and conduct their financial transactions," Bangura said.
Dr Orlean Cole, Project Manager of SLCB, explained that the standard charge the Afri Money imposes on the Africell Money transaction is the same charges that will be imposed with product.
"The service is not going to be a burden on customers or subscribers. The standard charge is 1.5%. If you are an agent of Afri Money, it is 1% and 1.5 % for subscribers," Cole said.
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