AKUAPEM RURAL BANK MAKES PROGRESS (PAGE 33)

THE Akuapem Rural Bank with its headquarters at Mamfe in the Eastern Region last year recorded a pre-tax profit of GH¢432,928.
The amount constituted a 54.01 per cent increase of that of 2007 which stood at GH¢281,109.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the bank, Mr Edward Offei-Bekoe, announced these at the 28th Annual General Meeting(AGM) of shareholders of the bank at Mamfe at the weekend.
He said the bank’s deposits within the period also rose by 18.15 per cent from GH¢5,182,162 to GH¢6,122,474 while shareholders capital hiked from GH¢179,897 to GH¢250,539, an increase of 39.27 per cent.
According to him, the increase in the bank’s fortunes made it possible to increase loans and advances by 71.85 per cent from GH¢2,009,531 to GH¢3,453,443 adding that its microfinance scheme was doing well.
To ensure efficient operation of the bank, he told the shareholders that the existing branches and new ones to be opened would be fully computerised.
Mrs Grace P.H. Bartels-Kodwo, Manager, Research, Marketing and Corporate Affair of the ARB Apex Bank, said it had become necessary for the ARB Apex Bank to underwrite some new banking services for the rural banks and the banking public, as well as improve its product base and introduce new products.
The new services, he stated, would cover trade finance, relationship or domestic banking, guarantees, value chain financing, card-based products, ATM operations, offshore banking and deposit insurance, adding that these services were not intended to compete with rural banks but rather to provide support services in areas where rural banks do not have the capacity to undertake.
Mrs Bartels-Kodwo further stated that due to the changing scene of the banking sector, coupled with competition from commercial banks, rural and community banks needed to have a very solid strategic alliance to enable them to stay in competitive business.
She stated that in that respect, there was the need for some rural banks to merge so that the weak ones would be strengthened.