IFC lauds BSP rural banking initiatives

By PATRICK PANIWA SAKAL
THE International Finance Corporation (IFC) has praised Bank South Pacific (BSP) for using state-of-the-art technology to deliver rural banking services in Papua New Guinea.
IFC resident representative Carolyn Blacklock said it had provided financial and technical assistance to BSP to help use technology, such as cell phones and hand-held tablet computers, to provide farmers, entrepreneurs and village people in remote parts of the country with banking services that were vital for business.
“It’s the first time this technology has been used to deliver banking services in rural areas in PNG, putting BSP at the forefront of innovative banking in the Pacific,” Blacklock said from Sydney last Friday.
She said it was also one of the first banks in the world to use hand-held tablet computers to open accounts for new customers.
Head of BSP rural banking Kili Tambua said the aim of this pilot project was to provide solutions for large commodity- buying companies to disburse payments to commodity growers.
Tambua said benefits to these businesses would be to reduce cash, cheque handling, increase electronic auditing capability and oversight, and improve security overall.
He said growers would benefit from improved security of the earnings than through using conventional banking services.