business

June 4, 2021

NEO SENOKO

3 min read

CBL urges financial institutions to improve knowledge capacity

CBL urges financial institutions to improve knowledge capacity

CBL Governor Dr Retšelisitsoe Matlanyane

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FINANCE service providers should do more to understand different business sectors in order to have a clear picture when assessing credit applications, the Central Bank of Lesotho (CBL) has said.

Such understanding will go a long way towards helping these entities understand how different sectors operate, and that could reduce a burden towards access to finance.

The Governor of CBL Dr Retšelisitsoe Matlanyane made the remarks during the ninth edition of the Lesotho Money Month round table.

The campaign is not just for the population to understand the financial services providers, their products and the contracts but for the financial services providers to also take an initiative to go and understand the different business sectors and entities and their business models.

The money month round table marked the official closure of the Lesotho money month campaign for the year 2021.

Under the theme, “take care of your money and take care of yourself”, this year’s celebration was officially launched on April 19 and was carried out virtually and through other platforms due to the existing restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The key objective of this initiative is to increase financial inclusion and literacy.

During the sessions, members of the public were enlightened on different broad areas that include basic financial education concepts.

This entails discussions of personal financial management skills such as budgeting, prioritising savings and understanding interests’ rates and similar concepts and terms.

The sessions also discussed responsible borrowing and lending as well as other available products and services in the financial system so that the public becomes aware of the choices and how to make such choices.

Participants were further warned of emerging financial risks and the heightening financial fraud that includes cyber fraud and others that happen on the everyday physical space.

“It is not always the case that the participants understand different business entities and lines. And therefore we have to take an initiative to do so. This requires investments in education and training for staff, to be able to understand these business sectors.

 “It is a lot of work that we have to do for us to understand, for instance, the mining sector and how it operates and to understand how agricultural enterprises operate from the producer up to the end of the chain,” Dr Matlanyane said.

She said these financial service providers should understand how producers in different other sectors work and the value chain up to the end of that product.

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“So I urge and encourage banking and other financial institutions to take a step forward to meet the population halfway. Businesses and households alike require support in order to understand what savings and investment transfers, loan and other financial services are available to them, how much they cost, how they work, how to access them, and how to effectively use them and how to be able to meet the obligations of both sides of the contractors,” she said.

In the same breath, businesses and households need to be aware of the risks that continue to emerge in the financial services sector as and when they come to the fore so that they are able to recognise and avoid losing their hard earned moneys.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also brought about a lot of initiatives for transacting online.

“So the public was cautioned against potential scammers that sometimes are not so sophisticated. Others are sophisticated but some are opportunistic, they are persistent and very likely to target the most vulnerable sections of our population who may not be aware of the things to look out for or the telltale signs that would actually raise a red flag,” Dr Matlanyane further warned.

The Lesotho money month campaign is one of several financial literacy initiatives that are undertaken by the government of Lesotho under the leadership of the Ministry of Finance and in terms of the National Strategic Development Plan and the financial sector development strategy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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