Former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the defunct UT Bank, Kofi Amoabeng who spent fifteen (15) years in the wilderness, involved in numerous businesses says every financial institution must have a great understanding of their clients, especially their businesses.
On his accord, financial institutions should have the capacity to relate to the needs of clients if they wish to succeed alongside these clients, as that was the unique selling point of UT and how they contributed to the growth of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs).
“Prior to establishing UT Bank, I was engaged in other businesses for 15 years. I was engaged in the sawmill business, worked in the air condition and oil businesses and selling wine amongst others so I could relate to the businesses of our clients, especially SMEs which wanted loans for their businesses,” he told Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show.
He disclosed most SMEs which need loans to support their businesses sometimes fail to sell their stories and under state the amount they need as loans, eventually being unable to expand and develop their businesses as expected.
“Some of the SMEs came to me and stated they needed GH₵15,000 as loan but upon listening to their stories, I got to know they needed more than that and this is because of my prior involvement in several businesses in the 15 year wilderness period. After telling them that the looked at me and say it is true.”
Advising financial intuitions on how they can get clients, especially SMEs to repay loans on time, he shared, “When giving loans to people or SMEs, you need to understand their business and coach them with the little you know so the business succeeds. If the loan given is enough to support them, then they will not get stuck and can pay back without defaulting on loans.”
He explained this as a major reason the bank focused on SMEs and was aggressive in pursuing people and businesses.
UT Bank Ghana Limited, commonly known as UT Bank (UTB), was a commercial bank in Ghana. As of February 2011, the bank was one of the commercial banks licensed by Bank of Ghana, the national banking regulator. On August 14, 2017, the bank of Ghana announced it had revoked its license and was taken over subsequently by GCB Bank.
By: Joel Sanco
