GRACCU to establish own bank

The Ghana Revenue Authority Co-operative Credit Union (GRACCU) has held its 9^th Annual General Meeting (AGM) aimed at drawing up more programmes to aid members to have access to credit and other benefits to better their lives.

As part of the programme GRACCU have plans to set up a bank that will cater for the needs and wants of the union members.

Mr. Christian Sottie, Special Advisor to the Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) said he was amazed at the Union's asset base of over GHc37million, which makes it possible for the GRACCU to stand the chance to operate its own financial institution.

Mr. Sottie, who addressed the meeting on behalf of the Commissioner-General, last Thursday in Accra, spoke on the theme: “Reinventing for layers of opportunities”.

He said: “I had opportunity to go through the accounts of GRACCU and I was amazed at your assets and the volume of transaction. In fact, you carry merits and volumes of transactions which are bigger than some financial institutions that are parading themselves around”.

He urged the Union to adapt to the changing circumstances of customer preferences and make good use of opportunities available to them.

Mr. John Nyarko, Acting Registrar of the Union, delivering the keynote address said the purpose for every credit union is to create wealth for its members, adding that as a matter of fact GRACCU must offer financial solutions to meet members' needs.

He was of the view that GRACCU has great potential to grow, that is when it focus on offering good products and services, register more membership and expands its asset size within two years.

The General Manager of the Credit Union Association (CUA), Nana K Agyapong urged the various unions in the country to come together to form a strong force since the strength of every credit union lies in numbers.

He argued that the membership of most credit unions in the country is too small, and as a result members cannot access enough credit for their operations.

The CUA General Manager was, however, happy with the Bank of Ghana's decision to allow large credit unions to take over the smaller ones.

Mr. Agyapong said he looks forward to seeing a vibrant GRACCU in the near future, which can grant loans to young graduates to buy a house and pay back in a period of 25 years.

On his part, Chairman of the Union, Godwin Aaron Monyo outlined some of the programmes embarked upon by the GRACCU mentioned the Guaranteed Deposit Account (GDA), as yielding investment product that the Union has launched to help members to undertake investment projects without necessarily taking loans.

Other products like GRACCU fixed deposit, ADPS money transfer among others are to finance burdens of the members, he added.

“The GRACCU/Zenith Bank collaboration also brought to our platform mobile money transfer service. This allows members to deposit cash directly with GRACCU irrespective of their location and vice versa,” he said.

Presently, he stated that efforts are being made to open satellite offices at Tema and Aflao to bring the credit union closer to staff in those areas.

By Bernice Bessey.