Tibone encourages FNBB to deliver

KARABO SENAME
Staff Writer | Tuesday March 30, 2010 00:00

'It is not these beautiful and state of the art facilities that will do business for you. It is the warm hearts and welcoming personalities that will do,' Tibone said last Saturday at the official opening of the FNBB state of the art regional offices in Francistown. The assistant minister noted that increased customer base in Francistown at the old branch building and the realisation that there are diverse business opportunities in and around the city, has necessitated a more spacious accommodation in a friendlier and a more relaxed environment within which to do business.

He said the bank's response to this opportunity is evidence of their commitment to extending services to the people of Botswana.

Tibone also advised the residents and the business community here that since it is a well-known fact that Batswana's culture towards saving and investment still needs to be nurtured and promoted, 'there is a need to educate Batswana on that aspect and encourage them to save in this manner, but with full knowledge of the risks involved'.

FNBB's CEO Lorato Boakgomo-Ntakhwana, the first  woman commercial bank head in Botswana, said her bank has made a decision to contribute to the development of Botswana's economy through the financial service sector. She added that her bank's goals in many ways complement those of the nation as envisaged under vision 2016.

'We continually strive to be ahead of the pack with infrastructure and product innovation,' she said. She added, 'This magnificent edifice testifies their commitment in providing innovative solutions to banking and world-class facilities within which to operate.' She added that in doing so, it shows that they always have customers in mind.

'This is why we at FNBB are proud of our tradition, of being the first to innovate, the first to market products and services that meet and exceed customer expectations and the first to respond.'

She pointed out that as the bank, they understand queues are not a sign of a flourishing business, but rather a sign of an inefficient service or poor operational systems.'We therefore had to come up with an innovative solution which cuts down on the time our customers spend on queues.' The former CEO, who is now CEO of Corporate Banking Division, FNB South Africa Danny Zandamela said the new Francistown branch would provide a conductive environment for banking and this will help the bank to continue its excellent service delivery in meeting customer needs.  He said the official opening of the building represents another milestone in the history of FNBB. 'It demonstrates the bank's strategy of bringing banking services closer and conveniently to the people'. He added that the branch is well equipped to serve Francistown and the surrounding villages with all their banking needs. The new branch building is prominently positioned along the famous Blue Jacket Street. It is a three-storey building with a basement parking, with 22 teller points including four for bulk cash. These tellers are 11 more compared to the ones that were found at the old branch building. There are three ATMs which are deposit-taking. The new building means the Francistown branch is a one-stop shop housing all divisions of the bank such as Property, Wesbank, Electronic Banking and other support services.

Captains of industry from the private sector, parastatals and government graced the official opening.