Bereng Mpaki
RESIDENTS of Mafeteng will no longer be making long and costly trips to Maseru to access Lesotho PostBank services after the bank opened a new branch in the district this week.
The branch is the bank’s 14th in the country, and was officially opened by Lesotho PostBank management and community leaders. It is in line with the bank’s vision of taking banking services closer to the communities countrywide in order to help improve their lives.
Lesotho PostBank already had three branches in Maseru and others in Machache, Semonkong, Maputsoe, Hlotse, Pitseng, Mapholaneng, Thaba Tseka, Katse, Quthing, Mount Moorosi, and Qacha’s Nek.
It was established by government and remains the only 100 percent locally-owned commercial bank in the country.
The bank’s Managing Director Molefi Leqhaoe said the branch had been opened to serve the unique needs of the Mafeteng community, at an individual or business capacity as well as small to large businesses.
“One of the issues that PostBank will address is the provision of assistance to facilitate the growth of small and large businesses,” Mr Leqhaoe said.
He said the bank would continue serving the market with its comparatively lower bank charges in order to help them to make savings.
“We also want to our customers to start saving. There is a challenge of lack of saving and this is an issue we have to change by showing you how this can be easily done,” he added.
He said saving made it easier for banks to give loans as they are able to check a person’s saving history.
“We will strive to be in tune with the business community so that we can close the existing gap where banks’ services are not aligned to the needs of their customers.”
The bank’s board chairperson Retšepile Ellias said the Postbank had come a long way, having started out by accepting customers’ savings deposits using bank books.
“It was only in 2010 that the Central Bank of Lesotho allowed us to start giving loans as part of our service package to individuals and small businesses. Within that short time we have we excelled especially through our collaboration with the Lesotho National Development Corporation (LNDC) to give out micro loans.
“We were subsequently recognised for our sterling job by the LNDC who presented us with an excellence award,” he said.
He said after opening the Mafeteng branch, they would go on to roll out their services to other districts and towns.
One of the district’s old age pensioners Makome Nakalebe was delighted with the new branch which he said would enable him to save part of his government pension for rainy days.
“We are really happy as Makaota (a term of endearment for Mafeteng people) that PostBank has come to our town. We no longer have to travel to Maseru for services,” he told the Business Journal.
Another community member ‘Marorisang Kalake also welcomed the branch opening and said she looked forward to receiving handy solutions to finance her agro business. She said would soon apply for a business loan.
She revealed that she sold farming inputs such as fertilizers and seeds in addition to hiring out a tractor for commercial ploughing.
For her part, Central Bank governor Dr Retšelisitsoe Matlanyane said the PostBank had a responsibility to assist the development of the community.
She also appealed to the community to repay loans they got from the bank as the tendency of defaulting on repayments had already resulted in the closure of banking institutions such as the Lesotho Bank and Lesotho Agricultural Bank.
For his part, Lesotho Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Ntaote Seboka praised the PostBank as “his personal bank” which came to his rescue after he had struggled for long time to find suitable banking solutions.
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