Demerara Bank Limited is now poised to begin the construction of its $150 million Leonora, West Coast Demerara (WCD) location and according to its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), the bank will be offering its full range of services.
The sod was turned yesterday by CEO Pravinchandra Dave and Chairman Komal Samaroo along with President Irfaan Ali and Finance Minister Ashni Singh.
Dave told the gathering that the branch will serve in excess of 75,000 persons in its catchment area while adding that the number would be expanded owing to the government’s plan for the development of housing in the area.
“This branch which we are going to open here will be a very modern branch. Name a facility you can take from the bank in Georgetown, you will get it here. We will have night deposit boxes, we shall have ATMs, and we shall have all the facilities. Loans will be readily available here, all the facilities. Even our ATMs we are trying to have the drive-in ATM facility. The biggest advantage we are having here is the very big piece of land,” he said.
The CEO added that all of the Demerara Bank branches have a WhatsApp facility that allows them to do transactions via the electronic platform. He noted that now that the sod is turned for the location, the facility will take approximately 18 months to be completed.
“It will cost us around $150-160 million. We shall have a full solar facility, that means the branch will be operated through solar only [and there will be] no electric connectivity,” he related.
Dave said that they are implementing systems to make opening accounts and accessing services much easier with all of the relevant applications being made available online. He said that customers would download the applications and fill out the information and would only have to go into the bank to drop those off and verify documents.
He stressed that Demerara Bank would continue providing the same quality of customer service that is known for.
Meanwhile, Samaroo said that the ceremony is yet another step in the direction of its founders. He said that the Board has approved a strategic plan in pursuance of which it is taking a lead role in financing priority sectors in the country, particularly agriculture and housing. He added that in the last six years the Bank’s loan and advances portfolio doubled from $23 billion to $46 billion while its deposits grew by 75%.
“In its first 10 years of existence, this bank had one branch at Camp and South Road [Georgetown] but since 2004 the bank has increased the number of branches and with this one here we will have, by the end of next year, nine branches. We will continue the expansion of the branch network in un-banked areas into the future,” Samaroo said.
He said that the bank continues to upgrade its technological infrastructure in order to deliver its services in a modern and efficient manner to customers, He added that they are rapidly expanding the bank’s debit and credit card services and that the mobile banking platform will be rolled out by the end of 2022.
He noted that those services will allow Demerara Bank customers to more efficiently and effectively conduct their business.
“We will continue to respond to the needs of our customers, introducing new products and services, embracing the growth of our customers’ business and improvement of the quality of life of Guyanese. This location which I’m told [is] 13 kilometres away from Vreed-en-Hoop and 16 kilometres away from Parika was chosen as the new investment site for a full-fledged branch of the bank and we desire to meet the needs of the population,” the Chairman said.
Development
Delivering the feature address, President Ali said that rapid development is planned for Region Three and congratulated Demerara Bank for understanding the direction in which the country is going and the development taking place.
“…understanding the development agenda of the country, Demerara Bank created a vehicle to support that development and it is in this context that I really want to congratulate you. Moving here also shows that you are actively working in sync with the development agenda of the country and the government,” the President said.
Ali spoke about the government’s planned development for Region Three noting that it is going to necessitate the need for the creation of new commercial hubs adding that the bank’s location makes it ideal to facilitate the growing developmental agenda. He pointed out that a new mall, hospital and large private housing development will be in the Leonora area which the bank will be poised to service.
“In this area also we have a huge market that thousands of people use, so I have no doubt that this investment will be successful. That this investment with everything else that is happening here will create a modern economic hub that would generate thousands of jobs. We have no doubt that development like these will support the other massive transformative development that will take place along the coastline,” Ali noted.
Additionally, Singh also talked up the government’s developmental agenda for the region while congratulating the bank for its decision to expand there. He also commended the bank for its record in lending to sectors such as agriculture and telecommunications.
He noted that the financial sector should not be a bystander or beneficiary of economic growth or transformation, rather it should be an active participant and contributor to that growth and transformation.
“…that requires a particular posture in relation to facilitation and ease of credit. The provision of readily and competitively available credit is an essential part of any modern economy and financial institutions have an important role to play in ensuring ready access to and affordable access to credit,” Singh said.
