DEMERARA Bank Limited on Wednesday night celebrated its 20th anniversary and to mark the occasion hosted a ceremony at The Pegasus during which several personages including President Donald Ramotar, and Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh, spoke.

Chairman of the bank, Dr. Yesu Persaud, highlighted the growth of the bank since it started 20 years ago and pointed out that its customers have been its greatest assets.

The bank’s Chief Executive Officer, Pravinchandra Dave, also talked about his vision for the bank’s development and continued success and expressed his gratitude to all who supported the bank throughout the years.

Dr. Singh told the gathering that the growth of Demerara Bank is a reflection of the “growth evolution and changing face of the country as a whole,” as he spoke of the modernisation of the banking sector.

He pointed out that the local financial system was not as integrated with the international system as it is today; as such, many of the advances that are taken for granted today such as the Automated Teller Machine (ATM)card which Demerara Bank pioneered locally, E-Commerce and on-line shopping, were non-existent.

Dr. Singh also reflected on the days when bank books were “the thing,” but now we have seen many other services which are in keeping with technology.

He said: “The economic augmentation of the country was also noted with the exponential growth in GDP. That is an economy from US$529M to US$3.2B in terms of GDP. If you look at how the financial sector has grown, total deposits at commercial banks have grown from $40.3B in 1994 to $340.2B in 2014.”

Demerara Bank also honoured 13 long-serving employees who were recognised for their years of service and were awarded for their sterling efforts as they were presented with plaques of honour and gifts.

The Signature Credit Card (SCC) launching was the highlight of the evening and its benefits were explained by Investment Supervisor Jerrett Morgan, and the first batch of SCCs were presented to a selected handful of persons present, who are customers of the bank.

Dr. Singh was the first to be presented with the Signature Credit Card on Wednesday night before the names of the others were called.

(Michel Outridge)