The Governor Of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr. Paul Acquah has challenged micro-finance institutions to reach out to communities where bank loans are scarce and some amount of capital is needed to scale up entrepreneurial activities. The governor made the call at the opening of the Madina branch of Opportunity International (OI) Savings and Loans Limited in Accra. Dr. Acquah also urged institutions to focus on distributive justice and poverty alleviation, to provide mechanisms to grow the SME sector. According to the Governor, a payment and settlement system which would, among other things, establish a common payment switch with an accompanying smart card would soon be introduced by the central bank. He stressed that the new system will in particular tie a single network of activities of the savings and loans companies to other non-banking financial institutions, and strengthen the developmental impact of the financial sector as a whole. Benjamin Montemayor, President and Chief Executive of Opportunity International Savings and Loans said the company had come to serve all Ghanaians with the best micro financial services available and also provide the beat customer focused and transformational services. He said it was their commitment that the services their branches provide would be of benefit to their clients, adding that "their business needs and expectations would determine the services we provide". Montemayor emphasised that it was their dream to grow from serving 60,000 clients to 5OO, OOO clients within the shortest time frame. Dr. Kwabena Darko, Board Chairman of Opportunity International, said the company was established to ensure that economically disadvantaged people in the country had access to financial services to transform their lives. "It is our belief that every Ghanaian has access to a safe and convenient place to save their earnings. Credit: Business News