LBDI customers complain of poor services

Customers of the Liberia Bank for Development and Investment (LBDI) branch in Gbarnga, Bong County have complained of poor services. According to them, whenever they go for transactions at the bank, tellers there usually say, like in Monrovia, “system is down.”

The customers, most of whom are government employees, including teachers and nurses, lamented that they spend several days repeatedly going to the bank at the end of the month to get their salaries due to the situation.

They said it is frustrating for them to cover long distances from towns and villages for their salaries only to be told at the bank that “system is down” thus, constraining them to be in Gbarnga with serious inconvenience. Some depositors told this paper they experience difficulties in depositing their moneys with the bank as tellers often told them deposit slips are not available at the time they need them to do their transactions.

The customers appealed to authorities of LBDI, the only Liberian-owned commercial bank that survived the Liberian Civil War, to seriously improve services to the public. They also want the Central Bank of Liberia to address poor services being provided by banking institutions in the country.

When contacted by our Bong County correspondent, staff at the LBDI Gbarnga branch, said they are not authorized to speak on such issues. They insisted that only the bank’s head office in Monrovia is eligible to address concerns from customers. Here in Monrovia, customers had similarly complained of “system down” experiences with various commercial banks, including limited tellers posted to serve influx of customers.

In a recent response, the LBDI management appealed to customers to exercise patience, assuring that they will be served.

By Papa Morris from Bong – Edited by Jonathan Browne