Kush Bank has reiterated it’s commitment to break down barriers to financial inclusion and support for development of sustainable finances to help the country diversify and develop a strong and ethical financial sector.
“We live and work in a country where operating a bank is very expensive, this is a fact of offering services in the newest nation on earth where infrastructure is still developing,” Ryan O’Grady, the Acting CEO of Kush Bank told the Juba Echo in exclusive interview on Wednesday in Juba.
He said the rate of financial inclusion in South Sudan is amongst the lowest on the earth.
“We have an obligation to break down barriers to sustainable small medium enterprise (SME) sector and to help our country diversify and develop a strong, ethical and transparent financial sector,” said O’Grady.
Kush Bank recently scrapped off fees on deposits and withdrawals in all of it’s branches in the country in a bid to bring in more people from the informal sector into it’s banking system.
O’Grady said that their focus is to be the strongest indigenous bank in the country.
“We will continue to avail new product, new services in the first quarter especially in 2023, but our focus is in ensuring that we can continue to build trust, and continue to build faith, our goal is to be a trusted business partner to all our clients,” he said
He disclosed that banking services in South Sudan are some of the most expensive on earth, adding Kush Bank’s mission is to make banking services affordable.
O’Grady revealed that this year they have moved beyond focusing only on humanitarian agencies and NGOs to supporting the broader community, individuals, small businesses and commercial enterprises.
“We will lend (you money) if you are a South Sudanese owned and based company and that is our focus, we are structuring more flexible credit terms that are responsive to reality that we are working in here, We don’t have land registries; we don’t have collateralization tools, so we have to be responsive as a bank to work within the context that we sit in here in South Sudan,” he said.
Kush Bank is currently focused on provision of affordable credit to local companies, product and services.
In addition, the bank already opened women banking windows specifically tallying to the needs of women in business.
“We live in a country where less than 75 percent of the population make use of financial services, we have to change that, we have to remove barriers but we also have to build the trust, building trust on my side is up to me to create a better service standard and ensure that we do what we say and we keep our promise always,” said O’Grady.
He said that deposit and withdrawal fee are not sustainable since the prevent entry of new clients into the banking system.
O’Grady said that by getting rid of these fees they will be able to soften the loss by income from other services such as lending.
“If we have more deposits, we have more customers, we have more demand for lending we can replace these fees and so the bank will be able to grow and sustain itself,” he said.
He further added that they are working broadly on agriculture where they are currently supporting over 8,000 farmers yearly through micro finance, and ensuring that they have access to capital at the beginning of planting season.
O’Grady disclosed that they also support these farmers with uptake at the end of season.
He finally said that they are also focused on supporting projects on green energy and solar energy to secure financial support from the international community.
