Union Savings and Loans (USL), one of the entities in the Jospong and Zoomlion Groups of Companies would in the next few weeks introduce a new service called OmniBanking, which promises to bring banking to the door step of traders across all markets in Ghana. Managing Director of USL, Philip Oti Mensah announced this at the inauguration of the company’s new two-storey head office building near Dzorwulu junction in Accra. The new head office also comes with an additional branch of the company and its former head office building at Abossey Okai in Accra also remains a branch to serve customers within the Abossey Okai and Agbogbloshie markets catchment area. The MD said branch expansion is key to the company’s approach to serving customers realising its “rapid banking, exceptional service” agenda, and that was one of the main reasons for introducing OmniBanking. He explained that the company aims to provide convenience especially when it comes to cash deposits and so under the OmniBanking model, the company would spread kiosks/cabins across all the markets in Ghana and in other strategic areas to enable people easily make deposits as many times as they prefer every day. Mr. Mensah noted that in spite of many efforts towards realising a cashless economy around the world and in Ghana, 50% of the world’s cash is still outside of the banking sector, and in Ghana the figure is estimated at more than 70%. He said USL believes in the cashless agenda which the Bank of Ghana is driving, but it also we want to have a pragmatic approach towards that agenda by focusing its energies on dealing with the challenge of lack of cash deposit convenience, which still remains unsolved. “The reality is that the market woman at Makola, Kumasi Central Market or Takoradi Market circle, or your everyday trotro driver, will lose time and money trying to deposit cash at the nearest bank branch. Thus they end up keeping cash under their pillows and in their shops,” he observed. Mr. Mensah said to solve this challenge many financial institutions have resorted to the labour intensive, highly risky susu model and in some cases deposit taking ATMs. He said Union's pragmatic answer is the OmniBanking model which combines mobile technology, less labour and the low cost kiosk banking model at the door step of customers.