Achiever Banking (AB) is a customer scheme targeted at the middle-class customers who earn regular salaries and provide them with a secure and convenient way to carry out their banking activities.

Speaking at the launch in Accra, the Head of Personal and Business Banking at the Stanbic Bank Ghana, Nana Dwomoh Benneh, said the Stanbic Bank ensured that its customers at a sitting could enjoy a record product set about their home and housing needs, vehicle and equipment needs, short-term loans, investments needs, among others.

He said the bank acknowledged the different needs of individuals at different times in their lives and so did not want to offer “anybody a vanilla product”.

Therefore, the ‘Power of Choice’, was designed so that customers could look, pick and choose, and take the products that were most relevant to them.

“It makes it possible for people who have just started the employment ladder to benefit even as they wait to progress into permanent jobs.

“This new product takes advantage of the growing trend in electronic banking, digital products and services to enable you to start to do banking in modern, more covenient and relevant way and over time save you money in terms of the traditional bank charges,” he stated.

The Achiever space

The Head of Achiever Banking, Ms Lovelace Adjei-Aku, said the Achiever Banking proposition was designed for income earners between GH¢700 to GH¢3,055 and that it was developed based on feedback received during interactions with customers of the bank through sessions and questionnaires.

She said the proposition looked at the salary market and realised there was a need based on creating money, saving and investing, living a life and considering others (share and legacy).

“We have put all this together to say that for a customer of Achiever Banking, we are ready to offer all these solutions to the individual in one pack,” she stated.

She cited benefits of the bundle package to include free visa card, hospitalisation support and retrenchment cushion up, and that the pay as you go includes paperless account origination, free mobile banking and free inter-account transfers.

Financial literacy

In an interview with the Head of Wealth, West Africa at Stanbic, Mr Benjamin Mensah, he said the savings culture in Ghana was not good and there was still a lot of room for development.

He said the middle class typically spent more than they made, and even when they saved, it was very little.

“So, we end up in the spiral of going for loan. It is important that people understand how much money they are making and to be able to spend within their means. Having a personal profit and loss plan or budget is important,” he said.

He advised that individuals should endeavour to save about 20 per cent of the monies they make before they spend.

Mr Mensah explained that “the Stanbic concept to attain financial independence is framed around a context of how people make money, spend it, save and invest, and share and leave a legacy.”

He advised individuals to learn to live within their means and save to be able to achieve their long-term goals.