Bakani: Protection of customers rights is vital

 THE protection of customer rights and promotion of fairness by micro-financial institutions are fundamental to retaining customers even during times of economic turbulences, Bank of PNG governor Loi Bakani says. 

He yesterday opened a three-day workshop on equity aimed at advancing customer protection.

“In a competitive environment where this segment of the financial sector is competing with first tier financial institutions, the process and effort you put into protecting your customer rights and fairness is important to ensure you retain them,” Bakani said. 

He said segments of the population were vulnerable to economic shocks.

He said international commitments had been made at various levels to raise and address financial consumer protection.

“For micro-finance institutions striving to reach and maintain sustainability, it is fundamentally important to work with this customer-base by offering client-centric financial services and financial literacy training,” he said. 

He said a financially-literate customer, one who knew what financial services were available and how to use them and understood the process, was  more likely to continue as customers of micro-finance institutions, as informed and protected.