Oceanic Bank Gambia limited has introduced an innovative product called "Condaneh box".

This enables customers of all walks of life - market vendors, saloon owners, or corner shop merchants - to collect their daily income from Oceaic Bank Condaneh and to watch the bank keep their money safely. This initiative, according to Yusupha Dem, the bank's head of Retail Banking Group, is quite revolutionary, changing the lives of different people.

He added that his bank's objectives among others are targeting the unbanked people in the market, such as the market vendors, saloon owners, or corner shop merchants. "With this new initiative, we expect that it will encourage this category of people to manage and save their money," he said. "The boxes are given to the subscribers at their various working places and each will be given an account attached to a staff of the bank that will be coming for regular daily collection," Dem explained.

According to Dem, this new product is only available at Oceanic Bank and is accessible to all and sundry. "As at now, we are only concentrating in the Greater Banjul Area," he stated. He added quickly that there are plans in place to extend these services in the rural Gambia and that they will also be partnering with the micro finance institutions that will be doing the daily collection for them in rural areas.

According to him, with this new product, they have registered great successes by encouraging many people to save by increasing their working capital out of their funds. Another success registered with this new innovative product, the bank's Retail Group head stated, has addressed what he described as unsecure for customers travelling for distances to save their money.

Oceanic Bank (Gambia) Limited, is a subsidiary of Oceanic Bank International Plc. in Nigeria, with a market capitalisation of US$2.95 billion and subsidiaries in 4 other West African countries. The licensing of Oceanic Bank (Gambia) Limited brings to thirteen in the number of commercial banks operating in the country. It has been making headway into other African countries recently, particularly after the recapitalisation process of December 2005.

The country has over the last ten years proven to be a relatively stable country, becoming more attractive for foreign investors. Though tourism and agriculture are the major foreign currency earners, yet the banking sector is steadily becoming a major player in the Gambian economy, with Nigerian banks exercising their prominence. According to recent report from the Banker's Magazine (an FT publication), Oceanic Bank has emerged the 5th best bank in Africa and the best in the sub-region.