Accra, April 8, GNA – Ms Nilla Selormey, former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Universal Merchant Bank, has asked staff and stakeholders of the bank to strive to provide solution-oriented services to customers.
Ms Selormey, who led the transformation of the brand in 2014 from Merchant Bank Ghana Limited to the present Universal Merchant Bank made the call in a goodwill message to mark the Bank’s 50th anniversary.
The Jubilee celebrations are focused on what UMB considers to be its key success variable – “our People: Customers and Clients, Staff, Alumni.”
“My goodwill message for them is to continue to do things properly, work professionally, be relevant, be solution providers, be value-adding partners so that indeed, the next 50 will come and we will celebrate a 100-year-old institution.
“All stakeholders of the great Bank should work with the knowledge that they are working for an institution they want to see thriving… so that together as Ghanaians we can celebrate a 100-year-old institution,” she said.
Ms Selormey observed that the bank had survived because it had been a “needs-based banker,” providing services and products that met a specific need.
“They are not just out there providing generic services that may not necessarily appeal to everybody. I think it is that ability to be bespoke, to meet specific needs that clients’ need that has guaranteed the banks survival.”
The former CEO noted that in addition to the bank’s success was its contribution to the growth of many Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) who had become local large businesses.
Touching on the Bank’s rebranding process, she explained that the move was to transform it from being a corporate bank to capture the retail and consumer market that was dominated by the younger generation.
“After a lot of deliberations, questions, research and analysis, a decision was taken that we needed to refresh the brand to resonate with the core growth segments and to differentiate in the market,” she recalled.
She said that all the rebranding activities including retuning, redefining, and bringing the brand into the modern age was, “to make ourselves attractive to the new target market we are looking to attract and retain.”
Ms Selormey, described the transformation of UMB as “hectic, exciting, frenetic,” and said, “but in the end, one was greatly elated by the successes chalked, and the camaraderie of the team one worked with.”
The Universal Merchant Bank (UMB) was established in 1972 as a policy bank, to provide Indigenous merchant banking capacity in Ghana.
The bank has since evolved into a valuable universal banking franchise, focused on becoming a digital-first, and SME-led solution driven by leveraging its immense wholesale banking heritage.
The Bank currently has 35 branches and boasts one of Ghana’s most successful agnostic mobile apps – the UMB SpeedApp.
GNA