With K986mil balance, Tisa eyes banking sector

WITH a balance sheet of more than K986 million at the end of 2020), the Teachers Savings and Loan Society (Tisa) hopes to enter the banking sector to provide relief for its members.Tisa chief executive officer Michael Koisen said in Port Moresby yesterday that currently, there was a duopoly in the retail banking sector which was not good for the market.Tisa’s banking licence application was still being processed by regulator Bank of Papua New Guinea.“There are two major banks servicing the retail sector, we have four banks in the country and their focus, a lot of it, is on the corporate sector,” Koisen said.“But the retail sector needs someone else to come in.” He said with a balance sheet of K986 million and 63,000 members had the size to upgrade to a bank, and the board and management felt that the time was right to migrate to banking.He said the current two main retail banks were managing a growing population, but there was room for a third operator.“Tisa has applied for a banking licence to complement what the current banks are trying to do to service the retail sector in the banking sector in the market,” Koisen said.“Hopefully, the regulator will approve our licence, so we provide relief not only for our members but for the rest of the country, particularly those in the rural sector, the under banked and the unbanked, we need to reach out to and provide retail services, and alternative to what is being provided by the banks.”