DC appeals to Investrust Bank to ease procedures
KABWE District Commissioner, Lennox Shimwambwa, has appealed to Investrust Bank to partner with government in accelerating the account opening process for people that are registering for various empowerment programs that are being implemented by government in the district.
Mr Shimwambwa observed that the current process is quite tedious for a layperson especially that most of the applicants are from the peripherals and lack basic understanding of the banking procedures.
He was speaking when Investrust Branch Manager, Dalitso Zulu and the Bank’s Customer Advisor, Darlington Sikazwe, paid a courtesy on him.
Mr Shimwambwa said his office has been receiving a lot of concerns from the applicants of the various empowerment programs who have indicated that the bank’s account opening process is quite foreign to them.
“You may be aware that my office is responsible for the recommendations for our residents to open accounts with your bank which is one of the selected banks that the government is working with to disburse the empowerment funds. However, most of the people are coming back to complain that your bank processes are quite demanding and that they are failing to meet up with the requirements,” the DC explained.
He further appealed to Investrust to flex their terms and conditions so that they match the demands of the local people, saying the government is willing to work with the bank on various platforms that will empower the locals, such as Fertilizer Support Programme, Youth Empowerment, Formation of Cooperatives, and other economically viable programmes.
Earlier, Investrust Branch Manager for Kabwe, Dalitso Zulu and his colleague, Darlington Sikazwe, paid a courtesy call on the DC to harmonize the issues surrounding the account opening procedure at the bank. Mr Zulu said the bank was happy to be associated with the government because such collaborations are important as far as meeting the service delivery requirements are concerned.
And in responding to the concerns raised by the DC, arising from the experiences that the residents have with the bank, the Branch Manager said the bank will try and ease the process because the core mandate of the bank is deposits and public engagement is very important to the growth of the bank.
He said the bank would see how they can flex the account opening procedures so as to enable not only prospective empowerment recipients but also other clients and would be customers that may be having challenges with the current procedure.
“We have heard the concerns of the people through the office of the DC and going forward, we shall ensure that we ease the process and thereby make our services more accessible to customers, Mr assured. - ZANIS/