Anum Rural Bank makes significant gains

Anum (E/R), May 25, GNA - The Anum Rural Bank has earned 84.6 percent profit before tax of 97,996 Ghana cedis in 2008 against 53,084 Ghana Cedis in 2007, a gain of 44,912 Ghana Cedis "All components of the income side of the Profit and Loss statement recorded significant increases during the year under review", Mr Theodore Kwame Gyau, Chairman Board of Directors of the Bank said at its 26 Annual General Meeting (AGM) at Anum.

The Bank's Net Interest Income grew from 537,843 Ghana cedis in 2007 to 725,966 Ghana cedis in 2008 while commission and fees appreciated from 227,714 Ghana cedis to 252,545 Ghana cedis in the same period. Mr Gyau said the bank's operating income grew by 26.5 percent from 786,251 Ghana cedis in 2007 to 994,470 Ghana cedis in 2008. The Bank's Operating Expenses for 2008 was 22.0 percent as against 38.0 percent in 2007, he noted.

"The relatively lower increase was due largely to stringent control measures during the year under review", Mr Gyau said. He said the overall increase in the bank's expenditure resulted from increased provision in Charge for Credit Losses arising from significant increase in the Bank's Loan and Advances Portfolio "coupled with increased staff costs".

The bank declared a dividend of 0.25 Ghana pesewas in 2008 against no dividend in 2007.

In a speech delivered on his behalf, Mr Eric Osei-Bonsu Managing Director of the ARB Apex Bank Limited, rated the bank's performance as "satisfactory" on the basis of the 2008 fourth quarter report of the Efficiency Monitoring Unit (EMU) of the ARB Apex Bank Limited. "It is also pertinent to mention that your stated capital of 373,141 Ghana cedis far exceeds the minimum threshold of 150,000 Ghana Cedis stipulated by the Bank of Ghana".

"I commend you highly for such wonderful performance", he said. Though located in the Eastern Region, the Anum Rural Bank operates in parts of the Volta Region such as Peki, Dzemeni and Juapong areas. Dr Owusu Manu, President of the Eastern Region Chapter of the Association of Rural Banks (ARB) alerted rural banks to the threat from the influx of the orthodox banks "who are establishing agencies and mobilization centres in the rural areas we thought have been designated for the rural banks".

He said the way out was for the rural banks to find ways and means of increasing their profit margin to be able to stay in business. Dr Manu said rural banks would therefore have to tap into each other's store of expertise, minimize expenditure, increase profit margins and bring better customer relations techniques to bear on their operations. He advised rural banks to be meticulous in granting loans to traders and non-salaried customers because of their bad loan repayment record. 24 May 09