Anum Rural Bank records strong growth in 2018

Anum Rural Bank Limited has recorded a major leap in its performance with the tabling of significant improvements in incomes and profits for the year 2018.

Mr Daniel Adu Appiah, Chairman of the Bank’s Governing Board, reported to shareholders during its 36th Annual General Meeting held at Anum in the Asuogyaman District of the Eastern Region, that the Bank recorded profit before tax of GHC1,068,834.00 in 2018.

The figure was a 39.24 per cent increase from the year before, and the Chairman told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the Bank had become more judicious in its activities, and had taken steps to win more customers resulting in the feat.

“We decided to be more prudent in doing everything we did,” he said, adding that the Bank had intensified audits, juggled its leadership, and minimised costs to enable it survive the era of “financial turbulence”.

He said staff who defrauded the Bank were being pursued and assured stakeholders that “this particular Board would try to check the leakages”.

The Chairman told stakeholders that the Bank, during the year under review, operated with a total income of GHC7,852,010.00, which was 14.13 per cent more than was run the previous year.

As at December 31, 2018, the Bank’s total assets stood at 31.35 million representing a growth of 16.41 per cent.

The Bank witnessed an 18.02 percent increase in financial liabilities, a 15.33 percent increase in credits, a 17.56 percent growth in total deposits, and was able to grow its shareholder funds by 10.72 per cent; GHC5,783,962.00 the year before to GHC6,403,792.00 in the year under review.

Its stated capital grew by 45.22 per cent, capital adequacy ratio was maintained at 25.21, and shares earnings went up 31.87 per cent.

Mr Adu Appiah said shareholders would share a total amount of GHC293,018.41 as dividend for the 2018 financial year, based on the 0.0045 per share proposed by the Board of Directors.

The Chairman said the Bank planned on undertaking massive advertisement to make itself more visible, having recently established an agency at Asutuare in the Shai-Osudoku District of the Greater Accra Region.

He said the Bank was making progress with the construction of a permanent banking operations office at Atimpoku, which would provide more convenience of service for its growing client base.

Mr Adu Appiah said the Board was injecting innovations that would enable the Bank keep tide with modern banking trends, and also building the capacities of staff whiles maintaining strict cooperate governance practices.

The Chairman said the Board was hopeful that the current restructuring of the banking industry would sanitise the industry to regain its ailing public trust and confidence and create enabling environment for business to thrive.

Mr Kojo Mattah, Managing Director, ARB Apex Bank Limited, said the “positive, critical partnership and cooperation” among the Bank of Ghana, the ARB Apex Bank, and the Association of Rural Banks had produced the “high-level resilience” rural banks had exhibited in the ongoing banking sector shakeup.

He said Apex Bank was working to make RCBs fully compliant with the cyber and security directives of the BOG, and that with innovations such as the soon to be launched agency banking, and the expansion of ATMs, RCBs would be placed on a path to infinite growth.