Dear Readers,
What would you want our Kenyan banks to do differently? We have collected a number of things we want done differently considering that we have a new law – Banking (Amendments) Act 2016 which determines how much banks should charge us.
Enjoy your reading…
An Open Letter to all Kenyan Banks
Now that we have the Banking (Amendments) Act with us, it is time for us to square out a few other issues. We have a feeling that we should not postpone these emerging issues. We will go straight to the point because we know that you are busy laying strategies for the new phase in your sector.
- Abolish Transaction Fees
Imagine a world where you are not required to pay any transaction fees at the bank! Yes you heard me correctly.
- No account maintenance fees
- No over-the-counter transactions fees
- No exit fees
Why should you charge us when we withdraw our money? I know you will say:
“It is because we kept your money safely.” – Banks
“Well, will it not be equality if we charge you a fee for using our deposits?” customers asking.
To us, it will make sense. We know that you use our money to award loans to your clients. Anyway, we already know that you do not have money of your own.
2. What if we don’t save, instead we loan you our Money
We save money at your bank to earn interest. That’s it. Now with the new laws we look forward to earning more for our hard earned cash. We feel liberated from the many years of bondage. When we were your slaves we knew our rights but never knew what to do to enjoy those rights. Now things are looking up. Our President has come to our rescue. You will have to depart with the 70% of the Central Bank Rate (CBR) as interest for our savings.
For you, the honeymoon is over. It is time for business. We see it as a win-win situation. We hope that the era of super-normal profits has come to an end. No idle bank balances any more. Every coin that we deposit in your accounts will earn us decent income. The billions of money deposited by county governments and state corporations is most of the time lying idle in your banks.
3. Call for Banks to Establish Partnerships
In most cases when you (banks) lend us money for investment projects, you cause unnecessary delays. You say you are checking our creditworthiness, confirming that our businesses are properly registered and whether our business ideas are feasible. This is good but make it quick. We may have something to learn to Saricom’s mswari. Even before we take their loans, they already know us. This is because all out data is at the their fingertips. This is the importance of taking advantage of the existing digital technologies. They have automated their services to an extent that I can wake up at midnight and request for a loan. Why don’t you do the same. If this happens you’ll be able to partner with us in implementing investment projects.
In the current setup, you don’t care whether things are going on well with us. You only care about getting monthly loan repayments. Whether rain or sunshine you expect us to pay interests and charges. This is the straw that broke the camera’s back. We feel lonely on this investment journey. If you are real the experts that you say you are, why don’t you enter into an alliance with us (customers). We need your financial advice which most of us lack. Let’s not think that you are interested in the collateral that we provide for loans.
We are not experts in financial modeling; otherwise, we would have helped you formulate a Customer-Bank Partnership Model. This can be a good exercise for your senior bankers and analysts who take home fat salaries. We want to feel like partners not your slaves. Let’s not hear from you that this is impossible. Aliko Dangote – the Nigerian tycoon- will tell you that “Nothing Is Impossible.” All you need is creativity.
The government is already doing well with her private investment partners. They even have a name for their union: Private-Public-Partnership or the nicknamed PPP for those who are in hurry.
4. Provide Basic Amenities to Customers
We spend a lot of time at your banking halls waiting to be served. When we are pressed by biological calls of nature we find it difficult to bear. We are forced to leave your premises in search of washrooms to empty our bowels. Do you real care about us or you only care about our money? It is high time you start providing us with basic facilities such as toilets. Otherwise we are ready to switch our allegiance to those banks which listen to us.
Skip this paragraph if you are a banker:
{This is a secret: we are watching out to see who will be the first one to provide toilet facilities we might fall in love with them considering that interest rates have been taken care of by our president}.
5. Partner with International Online Payments Gateways
We as bank customers request you to make it possible for online workers to receive online payments from Paypal, Skrill and others. We also suspect that those who have relatives in the diaspora may be interested in using these facilities regularly.
6. We need Financial Education
When we buy electronics, the manufacturers provide us with User’s Manuals. I don’t know much about buying new cars. I guess they also get manuals. Readers of this blog who have bought new cars for themselves or their organizations can come to my rescue. Do you get a user’s manual for a new car? When will your bank start offering us financial education on how we should use our money to avoid great losses? We know some of you banks have many years of experience dealing with clients from various backgrounds. Why don’t you share with us these archives of knowledge? It is our sincere hope that we are not asking for too much.
Some of us have a lot of money but we have little financial skills to help us multiply these funds. Think about this issue very seriously. We have a multiple of ways of making money which do not require that we get financial literacy. We only realize that we need those skills when we enter your premises.
7. Pull Up Your Socks in Personal Banking
Assume that you are a small bank with a single customer. How will you treat that customer? Will you let him feel anonymous? This is the way a majority of us feel right now. We do not want to be served by arrogant customer service personnel. We want a bank where we feel at home.
We want to share this letter with all banks in Kenya via social media. Before we do so, we need your input. We value your opinion on this matter. Is there anything that we have left out and you would want us to include? Please share with us in the comments section.
Share this article widely for us to get as much input as possible.
Best Regards,
Geoffrey Kerosi
