For us bankers, an exciting year is already in motion. Let’s be honest, the past two years were not so kind to most people. We all went through life or life somehow went through us. Our service providers, clients and most of our industry stakeholders were affected in various forms. What a topsy-turvy couple of months it has been, and we pray that it will all be over soon.
Although it was bad, I must admit that there were some silver linings, although very intermittently, but thankful we shall remain. The life we knew before has changed and certain things have been compromised and some taken away for good. Well, we don’t need to go over the details with a fine comb because we were all affected in several ways. But we are alive to influence the future.
Here is a small request that I ask: Let’s declare this year a year of the banker. Why this request? For me this is a perfect time to make amends and gravitate towards achieving a significant difference and real transformation in the lives of our clients and the communities we serve. Let’s craft a new hope. To that end, the articles this year will be mostly about what we can do to change the banking landscape. I will continue to demystify banking and related disciplines in financial services such as asset management and insurance for the benefit of our clients and various other stakeholders.
Economic recovery is taking shape. We are not there yet but the signs are showing and we can connect the dots for our readers to appreciate and have a better understanding. It is important to note that nothing ever exists without being influenced or affected by its surroundings. The same goes for financial services, the micro-environment and the macro-environment affect our industry and how we do business, hence keeping things simple for easy understanding is necessary.
Clients want to revive their businesses and approach financial affairs differently. So many lessons were learnt, and drawing from what we have learnt, we can derive a galvanized agenda on how we handle our finances going forward. This is a perfect time to get closer to your banker or financial advisor. Our role as financial advisors is to is help you understand and apply the financial quadrants of a human being, TICC as the need to Transact, acquire Insurance for what you deem very important to you, your ability to acquire Credit and saving for rainy days or long-term investments.
As bankers we need to step up and devise ways to make life a whole better. Indeed, financial literacy levels are not at desirable levels but we can tap into our circle of influence as a start at least. It begins with us. It is almost impossible to speak without mentioning “The-Vid” but this is now a part of us and navigating how we co-exist with COVID-19 is the only way. Despite the distress this caused, COVID-19 has taught us to think more on our feet and even break unnecessary barriers. We are more health-conscious, we eat right and we exercise.
In the banking sector, agile banking entities devised a deliberate agenda to introduce, review, and redesign banking products and services to align with the customer needs and preferences. The features and benefits of these cannot be the same as before 2nd April 2020. Lending policies are also under the radar and have been tweaked to accommodate both financial institutions and customers. It can no longer be business as usual.
Banking processes and operating procedures likewise had to be interrogated. These are exciting times when opportunities are being created while these developments unfold. Banking should be getting easier, better and more thrilling for our clients. So let us get down to work, ladies and gentlemen.
Let’s interact:
Twitter: rremanake
LinkedIn: Gomolemo Kololo Manake
e-mail: gomolemo.manake@icloud.com
