Current News AccessBank Liberia joined the International Campaign for Client Protection |
AccessBank Liberia joined the International Campaign for Client Protection
Monrovia, October 2, 2009. AccessBank Liberia announces that it has joined the International Campaign for Client Protection. The Campaign was launched in spring 2009 as a collaborative initiative endorsed and led by leaders in the financial services industry and hosted by the Center for Financial Inclusion. The Campaign for Client Protection seeks to unite microfinance providers worldwide to ensure that low-income clients are protected from harmful financial products and are treated fairly. By joining the campaign AccessBank declares its commitment to six client protection principles, which include: avoidance of over-indebtedness, transparent pricing, appropriate collections practices, ethical staff behavior, mechanisms for redress of grievances, and privacy of client data.
Ms. Mary Clare Odong, General Manager/CEO of AccessBank said: “From the onset, AccessBank has been committed to providing appropriate financial services to low income groups in a responsible manner. AccessBank has put much emphasis on transparency and responsible banking which constitutes practices and assessment mechanisms that aim to prevent clients from over-indebtedness. In analyzing our clients, we assess each client’s debt repayment capacity as opposed to speculative future incomes. By doing so, we ensure that our clients are able to repay their debt comfortably, grow their businesses and stabilize their cash flows. As a result of our approach to transparent pricing and avoidance of over-indebtedness, AccessBank’s loan portfolio quality is very good. Our arrears rate or Portfolio-at-Risk (PAR) - measured as a ratio of the total loan amount for which any installment is either more than 1 day or more than 30 days overdue against the total amount of loans outstanding remains very healthy. As of the end of September 2009, the PAR>1 day was 0.08% and PAR>30 days stood at 0%. This suggests that the installments we ask our clients to pay are bearable and consequently, clients are in most cases able and willing to repay their loans. We will continue to enforce and strengthen client protection principles with the objective of promoting responsible banking”. AccessBank Liberia is owned by multinational shareholders: AccessHolding AG of Germany- a joint stock holding company, International Finance Corporation (IFC) - the private sector arm of the World Bank Group; African Development Bank- a development bank which aims at promoting economic and social development in Africa; and European Investment Bank - the long-term lending bank of the European Union. For more information, please contact Fatu Kamara + 231 (0) 77 339 789or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
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