Banking in Ghana

After the last two weeks of dealing with one of the largest banks in Ghana I can now understand why most people in Ghana do not have bank accounts.

About a month ago I heard through the grape vine that the local branch of the large bank was closing. This directly effects the women that work with me since that is where their paychecks are directly deposited. The bank did send out letters to the mailing address of record but since none of the women actually have post office boxes they did not get the letter. Rather they all came to me, almost in tears, asking what I was going to do about it.I told the women that I would go to the bank and find out what was going on and if the bank was closing I would find out when.

So I went to the bank and waited in the very long ques and then I asked the "personnel banker" if the branch was closing. He told me that it was closing on May 27th and that all of the information was in the letter that they had sent out. I told him that the women that I worked with had not received their letters yet and they wanted to know what they needed to do.

He said that they could move their accounts to the new location, which is more than 2hours away by tro, or they can close their accounts. I went back to the office and told the women what I found out and told them that before they closed their accounts that they needed to get a complete bank statement so they could be sure that they were getting all of their money back from the bank.

I explained to the women what a complete statement looked like and they said they understood and then they re-explained to what I had just said. The women went to the bank and then they came back to me upset again. They all told me that the bank would not give them their statements. They were only given a small sheet of paper with their balance. They were told that they were women and that they did not need a statement.

To say that I was pissed is putting it mildly. I went to the bank the next day to find out what was going on and why they were treating their customers and my employees like this. At this point the man called me a "stupid women" for even asking for a statement, which got my blood pressure rising but I stayed calm (for the most part). I told him that they women had the right to the statements and I wanted to know how to get the statement for them.

He said that they would have to write a letter on their letterhead and present it to the bank. The bank would process the request and have the statement ready within 24 hours. I explained to the "personal banker" that these were individuals and that they did not have letterhead and that most of them could barely write their name. His answer was to put it on a piece of paper and then have them sign it. I left his office, went back to my office and hand wrote all of the requests and had the women sign them. I then asked one of the women to take the letters to the bank sot that they would have their statements on Monday morning.

After that experience I went to the small rural bank to see what they could do for the women that I work with. The experience was night and day. They were nice and willing to help. I explained that I wanted to open 20 accounts for the women but that I had some questions. The women directed me to the bank manager and he answered all of my questions and even said that if I gave him a letter with every one's name on it he would send someone to the office to fill out the application forms. In addition to the great customer service the fees at this bank are so much lower that the women are going to be able to save much more of their own money. It is a win win.

On Monday when the women went to pick up their statements at the large bank they were told that they were not ready and that they had to wait in the ques. They went during their break and so when their break hour was up they called me to say that they would be late because they still did not have their statements. I asked for the number of the manager so I could move the process along.

I got the number and was told that they still had to print the statements, I asked the man why they were not printed already since it had been more than 24 hours and the statements were system generated. He then changed his story and said that they had to sign for them and that they had to wait in the ques and that there were people ahead of them. I asked him how many people were ahead of them and he said that he did not have time to talk to me because I was not a customer. I explained that I had 2 accounts with his bank and that he should answer my question. He said that if he did not have to talk to me he could help them quicker and then he hung up on me.

All in all it took the women 2.5 hours to pick up and sign for bank statements that were already printed. When the women got back I had to go through them and audit them and then explain the charges to the women and tell them how much money they had in their accounts. I had also made copies of the request to close an account form and I filled it out for each of them. I circled how much money that each one should be getting back from the bank and told them that they needed to sign and date the account closure form while they were at the bank.

The women went to the bank on Tuesday to close their accounts and that also took 2 hours. When they got back some of them had me check to make sure that they got the right amount of money. I was amazed at the bills that the bank gave them. The bank gave one woman 6 $50 GHC and then the rest of her money in $1 GHC coils. The amount that she got back was $347.49. I don't think that there is any place in my town were you can break a $50 GHC bill.

I was amazed at how poorly the bank was treating these women. I am so glad that these women will never have to deal with them again. Unfortunately I do still have 2 accounts there.