Fidelity’s Agency Banking Officers Trained as Financial Literacy Champions Fidelity Bank Ghana Ltd., Ghana’s premier indigenous bank, in cooperation with the German Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GIZ (GmbH) and facilitated by Mel Consulting Limited, has taken its Officers and Managers overseeing Fidelity’s Agency Banking operations through a rigorous two day trainer of trainees (TOT) programme on financial literacy. The overarching objective of the workshop was to equip Fidelity’s Agency Banking Officers and Managers with the right understanding and know-how to downstream Financial Inclusion and Wellness training to Fidelity’s Banking Agents through their on-boarding and refresher trainings and Agent Engagement activities, with the desired outcome of creating financially capable customers. The first day of the workshop focused on the Agency Banking Officer/Manager as a trainer. Participants were taken through various sessions including the attributes of a good trainer; the role of trainers in promoting development interventions such as financial inclusion; knowing how to select relevant training modules in response to the needs of a target audience; how to organize a training event and a host of others. The second day centred on the topics of financial inclusion, literacy and wellness. Fidelity Staff present were taken through the steps of conveying a thorough understanding of the concept, benefits, social aspects and implications of savings, loans, investments, microinsurance and other financial services for their target audience. They discussed and brainstormed how to downstream professional banking standards to their Agents, with the wider aim of lowering risk and ensuring proper consumer protection for customers who utilize Fidelity’s Agent Network service and Smart Account product. According to Dr. William Derban, Director for Inclusive Banking & CSR at Fidelity Bank Ghana Ltd, only a staggering 38% of Ghanaians have any form of financial literacy, with most Ghanaians, both banked and unbanked, lacking the requisite knowledge to manage their finances responsibly. “Financial Literacy is core to Fidelity’s financial inclusion and corporate social responsibility (CSR) agendas. Through our strategic partnership with GIZ, we are engaging in a variety of activities, including market storms and staff training to build awareness, inform, educate and create positive financial behaviour. We also recently launched our Fidelity Smart Banking seminars for tertiary students, have ongoing rural financial literacy campaigns with GIZ and are developing a program for young children as well”, Dr. Derban emphasized. On his part, Hartwig Michaelsen, responsible person for the cooperation with the private sector within the Program for Sustainable Economic Development (PSED) at GIZ, commended Fidelity’s efforts in pioneering financial inclusion and financial literacy products, services and activities within the commercial banking sector. “This partnership and approach to financial literacy is novel to the African sub-continent, and GIZ is honoured to be partnering with Fidelity on this. We hope to set a precedent that will be replicated locally and regionally,” Mr. Michaelsen added.
