APEX Bank intensifies promotes rural banking concept

Awutu-Bawjiase (C/R), Sept. 10, GNA- The ARB Apex Bank has intensified its efforts to source adequate financial support from the Government and other organizations to make the operations of rural and community banks more effective.

To ensure speedy attainment of this objective, the bank is in the process of obtaining funds from the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) for the computerization of all agencies of various rural and community banks. These were contained in a speech read on behalf of the Managing Director of the ARB Apex Bank, Mr. Emmanuel Kwapong, at the 16th annual shareholders meeting of the Awutu-awjiase Area Rural Bank, by Mrs. Eunice Osei-Bonsu, at Bawjiase.

She mentioned Placid Express and the Suri Change as some of the organizations the ARB Apex Bank was collaborating with, for the transfer of off-shore funds to be channelled through the Apex Bank to the various Rural and Community Banks for the benefit of rural dwellers. She said management of the ARB Apex Bank was expecting that some of the relatives and friends domiciled within and outside the country would take advantage of this package to transfer funds to beneficiaries living in the rural communities.

Mrs. Osei-Bonsu commended directors, workers and shareholders of the Awutu-Bawjiase Area Rural Bank for their excellent performance over the years which has placed the bank as the second best in the Central Region and charged them to eschew complacency and maintain the spirit of hard and honest work to achieve more laurels in the coming years. Mr. Emmanuel Kofi Osei, Board Chairman of the Bank, said the bank made a net profit of 1,646,480,197 cedis during the year 2005 operational period representing 60.8 percent increase as against the previous year's 1,114,448,230 cedis.

He said the bank granted loans totalling 22 billion cedis to 8,000 clients during the period under review and mobilized 19.8 billion cedis as deposits for the same period, while 300 million cedis had also been set aside for the payment of dividends to shareholders. Mr. Osei expressed appreciation to organizations and the government for the various financial interventions they made available during the period to support the various Micro Credit schemes the bank initiated to support farmers, workers, tyransport operators, fishermen, and petty traders in the bank's catchment areas to improve their businesses. He appealed to loan defaulters of the bank to strive to pay back their loans in good time to further strengthen the activities of the bank.