Jomoro Rural Bank holds 20th Annual General Meeting

The Jomoro Rural Bank Limited at Tikobo No. 1 in the Jomoro District of the Western Region hosted yet another impressive operational performance in the 2016 year under review at the bank's 20th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of shareholders.

The bank has branches in Half Assini, Elubo, Tikobo No.2, Nzema Aiyinasi and Boinso.

Operating Results

The bank posted a profit after tax of GH¢ 501,782.00 in 2016 representing 100.78% as compared to GH¢ 263,181.00 in 2015 representing 90.66%.

The bank's total income increased by 29.48%, from GH¢ 2,751,345.00 in 2015 to Gh¢ 3,562,341.00 in 2016 while the total expenses also increased from Gh¢ 2,488,164.00 in 2015 to GH¢ 3,060,559.00 in 2016, showing an increasing of 23.01%.

Total assets of the bank rose from GH¢ 12,955,662.00 to GH¢ 15,251,531.00 in 2016, representing 17.72 percent increase, while the shareholders fund also rose from GH¢ 936,212.00 to GH¢ 1,431,111.00 within the same period representing 52.87 percent increase.

The total investment of the bank also increased from GH¢ 5,500,000.00 in 2015 to GH¢ 6,600,000.00 in 2016, a 20.00 percent increase.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors, Prof. Cosmas Cobbold, announced this at the AGM held last Saturday November 11, 2017 at the forecourt of the bank's Headquarters building at Tikobo No. 1.

He noted the 2016 financial year in the country witnessed shocks in the economy resulting in a rise in inflation, cedi depreciation against major currencies, upward adjustments in prices of petroleum products, transport cost, utility tariffs, power outages among others.

With a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 3.9% from 3.5% in 2015, general economic activities in the country could best be described as modest.

He said said in spite of the challenging macro-economic, competitive and political environments that pertained during the reviewed year, the bank managed to pull yet another satisfactory operational performance in all its financial indicators.

Advances

The bank continued to provide credit facilities to small and medium scale enterprises, farmers, and workers within its catchment area. A total amount of GH¢ 6,832,927.00 was disbursed to the customers in the year under consideration.

Payment of Dividend

According to Prof. Cobbopd, the issue of dividend payment is one that is of great concern to us all as Directors, Management, and Shareholders of the bank. Whilst we have worked assiduously over the past years to significantly improve on all the key performance indicators of the bank as evidenced in the financial statements, we still are confronted with issues relating to meeting the minimum paid-up capital and provisions for bad debt. For this reason we, regrettably, will not be able to declare dividend at this AGM. The non-declaration of dividend, however, does not mean that individual shareholders have not had any gains. It is important to note, distinguished shareholders, that your shares in the bank have increased significantly by reason of the declaration of bonus shares of GH¢ 300,000.00 over the past two years alone and this is expected to translate into higher returns on your investments when dividends are declared latest by the next two AGMs.

Directors

"As stipulated in the section of the Companies Code, 1963, Act 179, one-third of the Directors or a numbering nearest to one-third shall retire by rotation at every AGM but shall be eligible for re-election. In that regard, Messrs Collins Ehwie and Daniel B. Ndede have retired by rotation at this AGM, but have expressed their willingness to continue in office".

The two were re-elected to occupy their positions.

Evaluation and Monitoring Unit (EMU) Rankings

I announced at the last AGM that Jomoro Rural Bank Ltd had been ranked 39th (Satisfactory) in the EMU report released by the ARB Apex Bank in September 2016, having moved from 113th (Fair) in 2011 to 59th in 2015. I said at the AGM that our vision for the bank was for it to be ranked among the best 10 in the country. I am highly elated to inform you that Jomoro Rural Bank Ltd has, for the first time in the its history, been ranked 10th (Strong) in the EMU report released in December, 2016 and June 2017. I wish to express my profound gratitude to the Board, Management, and Staff, and all stakeholders who have made it possible for us to attain this feat, Prof. Cobbold revealed.

Corporate Social Responsibility

According to him, the bank continued to perform its role as a good corporate citizen by providing assistance to various communities and institutions within its catchment area. Key among the responsibilities was the construction and furnishing of an ultramodern staff common room for Tikobo No. 1 D/A Primary and JHS 'A'.

He hinted that the bank utilized an amount of GH¢ 35,070.00 within the year under review, as against GH¢ 8, 107.22 in 2015, to provide various forms of corporate social responsibilities and he mentioned some of the beneficiaries; Musical instruments cost GH¢ 500.00, organized orientation for teachers of Jomoro Education Service at the cost of 1,000.00, supported Jomoro District Farmer's Day celebration 2016 with the amount of GH¢ 780.00, Ellembelle District Farmer's Day celebration in 2016 with an amount of GH¢ 780.00 among others.

Future Outlook

According to Prof. Cosmas Cobbold, the macroeconomic environment in the first nine months of 2017 has been very challenging for most financial institutions. The 25% corporate tax imposed on rural and community banks, the continued declined in interest rates, the moratorium on small scale mining operators, exchange rate uncertainties, high cost of fuel and utility, etc are expected to affect the operations of the bank in 2017 and beyond.

He added that, "The Board and Management are fully abreast of the issues in the business environment and will continue to rollout products and strategies that will enable the bank remain competitive in the market space. The bank stands ready to partner the government in the implementation of its socio-economic policies such as the School Feeding Programme, One District-One Million, 1 District 1 Factory, Planting for food and jobs, Free SHS among others

I, therefore, wish to appeal to the Central Government and District Assemblies in our operational areas to channel some of the funds meant for these projects through the bank. I also wish to join other rural and community banks to call on the government to reduce the 25% corporate tax imposed on rural and community banks in the country".

Auditor's Report

The Auditor's report, contains in the financial statement, gave the true and fair view of the state of the financial affairs of the bank as at December 31, 2016 and its profit and cash flows for the period then ended in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and in the manner required by the Companies Act, 1963 (Act 179).

Congratulatory Message

In his congratulatory address, the Managing Director of the ARB APEX Bank, Mr. Kojo Mattah, applauded the Board of Directors, Management, Shareholders and Staff of the Jomoro Rural Bank Ltd for the impressive performance for the year 2016.

He urged the board to continue with the strategic direction they have set for the bank and ensure that it becomes stronger in the years ahead for the benefit of all stakeholders.

Mr. Mattah said the ARB APEX Bank, being the central bank for all Rural and Community Banks (RCBs), had put in place measures to ensure that there were smooth banking services for all RCBs across the country.

Some of the measures, he said included credit operations, collections platform, corporate tax,, credit management, fraud in RCBs, Minimum Capital Requirement and many more.

Minimum Capital Requirement

According to him, per the directive of Bank of Ghana, by 31st December 2017 all RCBs should comply with the GH¢ 1,000.000 minimum capital requirement.

He added that, by the end of March 2017, forty-seven (47) out of the one hundred and forty-one (141) banks had compiled.

"We wish to remind all RCBs that the Banks and Specialized Deposit Taking Institutions Act, 2016 (Act 930) has stringent provisions on capitation requirements, we appeal to banks which have not yet compiled, to mobilise additional capital to forestall possible regulatory sanctions for non-compliance", he appealed.

Corporate Tax

Mr. Mattah, revealed that ARB APEX Bank has appealed to the government, through Ministry of Finance and Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), to as a matter of urgency, bring the corporate tax down to at most 10%.

The Paramount Chief of Western Nzema Traditional Council, Awulea Annor Adjaye III, lauded the bank for its performance in the year and advised that the management should put the right strategies in place to manage risk.

He also thanked the staff and management of the bank for their continuous support towards the Traditional Council, especially the Kundum festival.

Awulea appealed to all loan defaulters to ensure to service their indebtedness on time to enable the bank to become much stronger.

He, therefore, charged the bank to arrest some loan defaulters who have decided not to pay the loans and serve as deterrent to others.

The bank awarded Mr. Francis K. Assuah, the Head of Credit of the bank as the best staff for the year 2016 for his outstanding performance. A citation was read for him by the Chairman of the Board of Directors.

The bank also presented NASCO Refrigerator each to Mr. Armachie Nyamekye and Mr. Benjamin Govina as the Best Customers of the bank for the year 2016 for cordial relationship with the bank.

Present at the Jomoro Rural Bank 20th Annual General Meeting were, the Paramount Chief of Western Nzema Traditional Council, Awulea Annor Adjaye III, the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Jomoro, Hon. Ernest Kofie, Mr. George Odei Annor, the ARB APEX Takoradi Branch Manager, the Chief of Nzema Aiyinasi, Nana Etwe Kpanyinli, the General Manager of Jomoro Rural Bank Ltd, Mr. Adormah Mawunyo among others.