For the first time ever in Ethiopia, the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia is celebrating a “National Saving Mobilization Month”, dedicating this October for this purpose. The bank took the initiative to celebrate the “National Saving Mobilization Month” in Ethiopia in line with the initiatives of the “World Saving Day”, which is celebrated every year on October 31 across the world.
It was in the year 1924 that October 31 was nominated to be the World Saving Day in the First International Savings Bank congress held in Milan, Italy. The intention of the congress was to promote the value of bank savings and reinstate citizens trust in banks. The World Saving Day is meant to be celebrated and promoted in various ways through distributing saving focused messages such as films, videos, broadcasting, press articles, posters, brochures and flyers.
This trend is still a common practice in developed countries. According to some studies, the underlying reason for people in developed countries for having a good culture of saving at banks is mainly attributed to the continual teachings made on the importance and benefits of saving at banks. In this day and age, owing to the persistent teachings on the importance of saving at banks, almost everybody has a bank account in developed countries. Yet this is not the case in developing countries.
In developing countries such as Ethiopia, the culture of saving at banks is still at its infant stage. The rationale for the visible difference between developed and developing countries when it comes to saving at banks is obviously in the efforts put on adequately teaching the public on the importance of saving. It is said that as much more effort is made to educate people on the benefits of saving, the more people get inclined to save at banks.
As a learning bank with a vision “to become a world-class Commercial Bank by the year 2025”, the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia has always been acute to learn from the international banking experiences. That being the case, it so happens that presently the bank is celebrating a National Saving Month Mobilization with a motto “Save Today for a Better Tomorrow”.
In a brief statement he gave to CBE TV and Radio journalists on the celebration of the National Saving Month Mobilization, President and CEO of the bank, Ato Bacha Gina said that the purpose of the National Saving Mobilization Month is to further mobilize and motivate customers as well as the public in general in line with the bank’s deposit mobilization strategy.
According to the President and CEO, the National Savings Month Mobilization would be celebrated from October 12 – November 10, 2019 in all areas of the country where the bank’s branches are available, at schools, market areas, business centers, military and university camps as well as in specific areas where crowd of people are gathered. Briefings and discussions on the importance and benefits of savings would be held on these areas to mobilize people and motivate them to open a bank account.
CBE is working to build stable and growing national savings through educating the public. As it is the case for any economy to grow, savings and investment must positively interplay to achieve the desired goal. As it happens, the level of investments in a national economy closely correlates with the level of national savings.
Hence, it is of vital importance for the nation at large to mobilize savings of people into the economy. By doing so, the nation would be less dependent on foreign investments as the domestic investments accumulated due to the savings of people will provide better stability of the country’s economy. To be more specific, savings of population are integral part of the economic system given that in developed and developing countries, savings play a key role in economic growth and development by accelerating the pace of investments in the economy.
Cognizant of this fact, CBE has devised a deposit mobilization strategy, which is being implemented to date. The secret behind CBE’s continual success in mobilizing deposit is its deposit mobilizing strategy, along with the bank’s fruitful efforts in creating public awareness about savings. It is to be recalled that in the bank’s official 2018/19 annual report, it has been revealed that its total deposit has now jumped over half a trillion registering 541.2 billion birr.
National Savings Mobilization month, which CBE introduced for the first time in Ethiopia is a continuation and a strengthening force for the bank’s deposit mobilization strategy. As a pioneer and leading bank in the country in introducing new products and services, CBE will continue to play its leading role in line with stabilizing and sustaining the nation’s economic growth.
I very much hope the bank will determinedly continue to uphold the spirit of the World Saving Day in the future and educate the public about the vital importance of savings and the benefits of using the banking system as custody for their saving deposit.
The Ethiopian Herald November5, 2019
BY TEMESGEN DAMTEW
