Atiwa Rural Bank improves profit position

The Atiwa Rural Bank at Kwabeng, made a net operating profit after tax of GH¢84,984 last year as against GH¢66,616 in 2006.

Mr Isaac Akomaning Asamoah, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the bank, who announced this at the 20th Annual General Meeting of the Bank at Kwabeng, said a total of GH¢1,706,020 were disbursed as loans and overdrafts to customers.

The loans, he said, went into areas such as agriculture, commerce, transport, cottage industries and construction adding that, the bank also disbursed micro-finance loans under the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs (MOWAC) and the Community Based Rural Development Project's (CBRDP) facility.

Mr Asamoah said total deposits of the bank grew from GH¢2,590,765 in 2006 to GH¢3,234.320 in 2007, representing an increase of 24.84 percent.

“Short term investments increased from GH¢1,138.653 to GH¢1,367,818 last year, representing an increase of 20.12 percent,” he said.

Mr Asamoah appealed to the shareholders to increase their shares to enable the bank to meet the Bank of Ghana's new minimum capital requirement of GH¢150,000 for rural banks.

He said the bank was upgrading its human resource capacity and creating agencies.

Mr Asamoah said in line with the bank's product development plans it had developed medium and long term loans adding: “With these products, customers can be granted loans for three years or more”.

Mr Eric Osei-Bonsu, Managing Director of the ARB Apex Bank Limited, in a speech read for him, encouraged all Rural and Community Banks (RCBs) to have an internal Audit Unit as part of their management structure.

He also advised that the boards of RCBs instituted a risk management policy to identify, assess, monitor and control risks.

Mr Osei-Bonsu urged RCBs to invest in training programmes that would help them to improve on service delivery.

Mr Kwasi Osei-Agyepong, Atiwa District Chief Executive, commended the bank for its efficient management of resources especially those from the MOWAC, CBRDP and micro credits bodies.

He assured the bank of government's determination to provide it with the needed support to strengthen its operations.