GBTI Lethem branch celebrates two years

Aug 28, 2008 News

– deposits in excess of $200M

GBTI Lethem Branch Manager Mohan Tularam (sitting) poses with his staff.

The Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) has surpassed all expectations at its Lethem branch, two years after setting up operations there.
Branch Manager Mohan Tularam disclosed last Saturday at the branch’s second anniversary celebration that the deposit base at the facility has grown and is now in excess of $200M compared with $100M in loans and overdrafts which are geared towards the development and expansion of business, construction of houses and business entities, acquisition of vehicles and household items.
“I am glad to say that gradually we have managed to encourage the idea of saving, and today we have customers from as far as Region Eight in the north and Gunns Village in the south,” Tularam boasted.
The manager said that with the commercial and industrial zones coming on stream, thanks to the soon to be opened Takatu Bridge, linking Guyana and Brazil, the bank is eager to assist and support these businesses financially to complete their projects.
“We would like to lend more in the housing sector and since the Ministry of Housing and Water is presently processing certificates of title for households in different housing schemes, namely Tabatinga and Culvert City, we will endeavour to assist the owners to construct their houses,” Tularam said.
However, since its establishment, the GBTI Lethem branch has not been able to provide loans to the agricultural sector since most farmers do not have title documents for their properties.
But according to Tularam, the bank has assured that this is an area that they would like to invest.
Tularam urged the customers to take full advantage of the bank’s competitive interest rates for loans and overdrafts which, according to him, are much lower than that offered to privileged and longstanding customers in the city.
The concept of banking was almost entirely new to residents within the Rupununi region, especially in villages located some distance away from Lethem.
The GBTI Lethem branch plays an integral role as an intermediary between investors and other residents.
It has also absorbed the risk of businesspersons having to send their monies by air or on buses or other means to Georgetown to do their purchases since they can now deposit the cash at Lethem and access same from any of the bank’s seven other branches.
Apart from strictly business, the GBTI has also developed a policy to integrate itself with the community in which it is located, and to this end it has conducted a Career Guidance Programme at St. Ignatius Secondary School for its Fifth Form students.