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Kenya: Banks Adopt Longer Working Hours in Battle for Clients
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Business Daily (Nairobi)
11 May 2008
Posted to the web 12 May 2008
Washington Gikunju
Nairobi
Until recently, banking in Kenya was a dour affair for the ordinary account holder, dreaded for long and slow-moving queues, strict opening hours, imposing security and surveillance.
This is now changing - at least as far as the clockwork opening hours are concerned.
As politicians and businessmen alike intensify their clamour for a 24-hour economy, bankers appear to be lending them an ear by opening their doors earlier and keeping them so longer.
Out of about 43 local commercial banks, majority have so far adopted a six-day banking week and added at least one hour to their customary six hours daily. Indeed, on Saturdays, the heavy doors have been opening for between two and three hours.
Now, at least three have gone a step further and are opening seven days a week, and into the night.
It has been a refreshing change for the long suffering customers who for decades could only access their banks strictly between nine and three in the day.
Majority had to sneak or ask for permission from work places to see their bankers, resulting in a massive waste of man-hours. The Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) head of marketing, Imrana Kureshi, says the push for more banking hours is so great it is just a matter of time before banks embrace the 24-hour banking concept.
Currently, what the customer enjoys of 24-hour service is access to the automated teller machines (ATMs) for cash withdrawals and deposits.
DTB were the first local bank to introduce extended banking hours until early into the night, through their Westgate branch, which closes at eight in the night. Standard Chartered then followed and added an extra hour to their Ukay branch which now closes at nine in the night, and NIC Bank which has two branches that close at seven in the evening.
One striking similarity though is that all these bank branches are strategically located either inside late night shopping malls or in rich neighbourhoods expected to net high net worth clients.
"People are shopping up to early hours of the morning in the 24-hour shopping malls and they need banking services as they shop," says Ms Kureshi.
The DTB head of marketing also says that the bank has seen a lot of interest in the extended-hour banking concept from expatriates and locals who work for international groups that remain open for 24 hours.
The NIC Bank director for technology and operations, James Muchiri, says increased adoption of information technology has reduced manual operations in banks, which has in turn helped to increase opening hours.
Mr Muchiri says a lot of operations, such as daily balance reconciliations that used to consume a lot of time have been made much faster, giving banks more time to serve their customers.
He says that though cash withdrawals can now be accessed for 24 hours through ATMs, a lot of other transactions such as cash deposits, negotiations for loans and advances, money transfer instructions and financial advice will still require personalised banking services.
Mr Muchiri, however, says the extended hours concept will only be available in select locations for the foreseeable future owing to general security concerns. "Security is a limiting factor when deciding where to offer extended hour banking services," says Mr Muchiri, adding that NIC customers will also benefit from stockbrokerage, investment banking services.
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The Kenya Bankers Association chief executive, John Wanyela, says competition is likely to drive even more banks to adopt the 24-hour banking concept.
However, Mr Wanyela says its spread is likely to be limited by the cost implications to the respective banks.
"Banks will open for longer hours to hold onto their customers, but the trend is likely to be limited by costs involved in opening for longer hours."
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