Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka urged staff of Bred Bank Fiji never to forget where the Bank started and that Bred Bank was first established to help people at the grassroot level.
“It’s a great honour to be here (this morning) and I am sorry if I have held you for a few minutes but we had planned on this earlier and I kept postponing it. It just goes to show that the higher up one goes in society, the less you can dictate to yourself what you do. It is the people you serve that dictate what you do,” Prime Minister Rabuka said.
“When you come up from very humble beginnings, you know how difficult it is, because you understand from the grassroots level. When you start off from the grassroots, you never forget how they feel.
“I am here as the Prime Minister of the Government that is host to your Bank. But you must understand that your Bank has also come up from very humble beginnings. It started as a cooperative Bank to help the people at grassroots level. When I talk about grassroots, I am talking about your customers, the original customers of the Bank when it was started many, many years ago.
Probably one of the oldest modern banks that has now survived. It was set up to help the people, to help the farmers in France.
“Now it’s in the Pacific, is now in Fiji and very soon it’s going to Vanua Levu and the people in my village will soon open a new bank in their home town.
Bred Bank Fiji CEO Thierry Charras Gillot thanked the Prime Minister for taking time out from the GCC meeting to meet staff.
“On behalf of the Board of Directors of Bred Bank Fiji and all staff we are very honoured to host you today. Thank you very much for accepting our invitation despite your very busy schedule. Hon Prime Minister is no stranger to Bred Bank, he is our customer.
“I want to reassure you of Bred Bank’s commitment to Fiji and to our customers and I believe that our collaboration is stronger under your government and we share the same passion of building a more prosperous and more resilient economy,” Mr Gillot said.
“We are looking at opening a new branch at the Harbour Centre point next month and a new branch in Labasa in September.
Prime Minister Rabuka was accorded a traditional welcome by staff before he addressed them.
