Fijians living in the rural and maritime regions continue to enjoy 24-7 access to banking services thanks to the tripartite agreement that the BSP Financial Group Limited (BSP) currently holds with the Government of Fiji and Post Fiji.
BSP senior manager Microfinance Isikeli Taoi said the bank had 35 rural post offices that provided basic BSP banking services such as deposits, withdrawals, account balances, pin resets, card issuance/replacements and resolving queries in collaboration with the BSP Rural Banking and Operations Centre teams based in Suva.
He said the bank supported the national financial inclusion agenda whereby his team visited communities to conduct financial literacy training and also open bank accounts.
Currently, BSP is the only commercial bank in Fiji with the ability to open accounts and issue bank cards (EasyCard) to customers on the spot.
Mr Taoi said the level of commitment by BSP to go where no other banks go, had enabled many “unbanked” communities to access banking services.
“We have been doing this for the past 11 years,” he said.
“Our partners have enabled us to achieve this critical service to this rural and maritime market segment and we are thankful for their support”.
A major highlight in recent years has been the move to digital banking channels by these customers.
“We are opening only electronic based accounts and this enables these rural or isolated customers to have real time access to their own bank accounts, either via the internet or phone services using our online or SMS banking services.”
However, he said a challenge in some maritime areas was the poor network connectivity.
“Some maritime areas have no telephone or internet connectivity and we have opted for a satellite network solution which is costly and necessary if we are to maintain banking services to residents in Matuku, Totoya, Ono-i-Lau, Moce and Kabara in Lau.”
Mr Taoi said many rural-based communities were taking advantage of the digital banking channels readily available and provided by the bank.
“We are calling on the few remaining passbook account holders to contact the bank as soon as possible to discuss options of migrating to a card-based account.” For any further queries, please call BSP Customer Care Centre on 132 888 (within Fiji) or +679 3214 300 (from overseas).
