Barclays Ropes in Small Saving Groups
By Staff Writer
NAIROBI---Barclays Bank of Kenya (Barclays Kenya) has yet again demonstrated its commitment to enhancing financial inclusivity with the admission of 1,000 Kenyans into the formal banking system.
The 1000, who are members of Group Savings and Loan Schemes in Nyanza and eastern Province, will access formal banking services by depositing their savings into a Barclays branch, as part of the Banking on Change initiative launched by the bank, CARE and Plan International, with a view to promote savings led microfinance methodologies as a way of enhancing income generating opportunities for households in rural and peri-urban areas.
Barclays Kenya’s Consumer Banking Director, Abdi Mohammed, said the groups will open an Uwezo account which has been designed specifically for groups, churches, societies and clubs that operate group savings methodologies.
Mohammed said the groups will benefit from free cash and cheque deposits, free cheque books and preferential exchange rates on transactions, in addition to the expert advice from the banks relationship managers.
“With the Uwezo account, the groups will also earn interest that is calculated on a daily balance and paid out cumulatively on a monthly basis, meaning that their financial base will continue growing”, he added.
Mohammed explained that graduating groups to the formal banking system, marks the second phase of Banking on Change initiative, which initially started by encouraging groups to pool their resources together.
He said members of the groups have been able to engage in gainful economic activities, by taking loans from their groups and returning the funds with an interest rate kept within the group - thereby improving their financial status.
According to Richard Otieno, Plan Programme Manager for the Nyanza Region, The BOC project in Partnership with Barclays and CARE has been a big success and has provided an opportunity to actualize Plan Country Strategic Plan.
“Women are beginning to invest and expand their business-there are many groups who are at the level of graduation and ready to be linked to opportunities such as the ones provided by the Uwezo account being launched today by BBK”, he said.
Otieno added that they are committed to scaling-up the Banking on Change approach in all the 12 Counties they operate in within Eastern and Southern Africa.Since January 2011, the number of Banking on Change groups has gone up by more than 50 per cent to 2,740 groups, with 49,000 clients already benefiting from the programme.
The participating groups ("chamas") have managed to mobilize a cumulative savings of KES 20,139, 815 and accumulative value of loans running to KES 28,756,147 to boost their businesses and support their families.