BSP extends services to Ulawa

Bank South Pacific has successfully launched its branch- less agency on Ulawa island in the Makira Ulawa Province.

The launching ceremony took place last Wednesday at the Suholo village.

 It was witnessed by the Makira Ulawa provincial Deputy Premier, Davis Maemae, the Minister for Trade and commerce, Brook Wa’o and the Minister of Health and medical services, Benson Piringi as well as other public servants at Ulawa island.

Speaking on behalf of the people of Ulawa, Arthur Halu, a school teacher thanked those who have worked hard to see such development established on Ulawa.

“I would like to convey on behalf of the Chiefs and the people of Ulawa Island our sincere appreciation to the one behind this initiative, the MPA for Ward two, Joe Takeli for the vision and hard work to ensure that such services are accessible here at the rural areas”, Mr Halu said.

“On the same note I also want to thank Bank South Pacific as well as the Makira Ulawa provincial government for their support in seeing this as it also comes in line with the government’s rural development policies to ensure that such development is established here on Ulawa Island”, he further said.

The Deputy Premier of Makira Ulawa province was very happy to see this big achievement for the people of Ulawa as well as the province as a whole.

“I am very happy to be present today for this occasion and I want to applaud the initiator of bringing BSP on Ulawa Island, Joe Takeli for his courage and vision in bringing this into reality, as well as chiefs of Suholo to allow such development established in their village”, Mr Maemae remarked.

He further encouraged Ulawans to make good use of the services that can now be easily accessible.

Mr Takeli said he is humbled and that it is from past experiences that he decided to make this happen.

“All this comes from my past experience as a former education officer, where I find that teachers travelled to Kirakira during paydays and this has resulted in teacher’s absenteeism, making parents and communities complain” He adds.

“Some of our people have lost their lives at sea going to Kirakira for the sake of accessing banking services and with this mentioned, I come up with this initiative to address this issue by bringing this service to Ulawa Island so both teachers and nurses as well as visitors to Ulawa can easily access banking services whenever they want.

BSP officer Stanley Junior Siapu said Ulawa is fortunate to have a BSP agent on the Island.

“The people of Ulawa are very lucky now that you have this service brought right down to you in the rural level. With this agency now here, people will no longer spend large amount of money or risk their lives travelling by boat to Kirakira or Honiara to do banking as in the past”, he said.

“Those who are formally employed such as teachers, nurses and the police can now make withdrawals here at this agent. Customers can now send money through deposits, customers can now check their account balance here if they do not access mobile banking and also too you save members can also make deposits here making it easier for the people here”, Mr. Siapu added

Mr. Siapu further adds that the service provided by the branch less banking agent will be convenient, faster and much cheaper for BSP customers on Ulawa.

The Ulawa BSP banking agent is established under the bank’s digital banking, a new department of Bsp with the aim of bringing basic banking services to the rural areas.

By LIONEL TAORAO

In Ulawa

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