Kasunda: We want to encourage village banks to grow

National Bank of Malawi (NBM) plc has concluded its Agulu Lathu Promotion, which was aimed at assisting informal groups to access various financial services and products through Kasupe Finance.

During the final draw held in Blantyre on Monday, Amazing Grace Village Bank won the grand prize of K3 million. The group and Tingathe Village Bank also won K1 million each in monthly prizes.

Speaking after the  final draw, NBM head of retail banking Oswin Kasunda said since the launch of Kasupe Finance, there were a lot of misunderstandings from the public.

He said: “People thought the bank has come to crash the operations of village banks and intended to kill these groups, but our aim has achieved the opposite.

“Through this partnership, we want to encourage village banks to grow their businesses by assisting them to bridge finances and operate proper accounts for their transactions and have access to digital platforms.”

Kasunda further said the bank is excited about the positive response from village bank groups.

“We had successful interactions with the banks in all the regions of the country and large numbers of village banks have come to open accounts,” he said.

Representatives of the two winning village banks—Amazing Grace and Tingathe—could not be reached on the telephone.