Dear Editor,
I fully and emphatically endorse the letter titled ‘Banks need more efficient system of administration’ which appeared in SN, dated July 31. I am absolutely certain that an overwhelming majority of us have faced similar situations and silently fumed and wished that things could have been better. But banks only seem to be friendly to you when they want your money. For when it comes to customer service they seem completely immune to the sufferings faced on a daily basis.
It is common knowledge that banks are one of the most profitable businesses in Guyana. You only have to look at their annual statements to observe just how large their profit margins are. To top it off they institute charges for every transaction you conduct with them. So there is absolutely no reason why they cannot invest resources to make their customer service better.
In this day and age of information technology it is easy to compare local banking services with those internationally. And it is very easy to see that our banks are way behind in terms of technology to improve efficiency.
The question which needs to be asked is why do our banks treat us so poorly even though there is clearly technology available which can improve their customer efficiency? Is it a callous lack of respect for their customers? An unwillingness to return some of their high profits into providing a better service to the people who make the banks operable in the first place?
The view of empty teller slots when bank lines are very long is the ultimate insult to customers. No investment in technology is required to improve this. It requires a simple understanding of the plight of the customers and a bank which is willing to put aside their seemingly complete immersion in how to make money and start considering ways to improve their extremely poor customer services.
A final note on this matter is that if the banks do not see it necessary to improve their customer service, then the onus is on the authorities who oversee these banks to mandate improvements in their customer service.
I commend Rev Gideon Cecil for his most timely letter and hope others will follow suit so as to highlight to officials just how serious this problem is.
Yours faithfully,
M Abraham
