Asante Akyem Rural Bank dividend up

The Asante Akyem Rural Bank Limited at Juansa in the Asante Akyem North Municipality of the Ashanti Region has put smiles on the faces of shareholders as the bank registers a rise in dividend payment, even though it registered marginal a drop in profit for the 2014 year under review.

Directors of the bank have recommended a dividend payment of GH¢0.033 per share for 2014 as against GH¢0.023 in 2013. The total dividend proposed is GH¢170,000 as against GH¢120,000 in 2013. The figure represents an increase of 41.67% over the previous year.

However, the bank recorded a pre-tax profit of approximately GH¢1.139million in the year under review as against a little over GH¢1.252million posted the previous year, representing a marginal drop of 9%.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors Mr. Francis Opuni Sekyere announced these and more at the bank’s 28th Annual General Meeting of shareholders held last Saturday at its head office at Juansa.

According to the Chairman,. Ghana’s economy for the year under review faced major challenges in the form of sharp currency depreciation, deepening energy crisis, deteriorating macroeconomic imbalance and rising inflation, and high interest rates. Real GDP growth fell from 7.3 in 2013 to 4.2, thus recording negative variance of 42.47%.

Inflation rose from 13.5% in December 2013 to 17% the same month in 2014, representing an increase of 25.93%. Again, real per capital GDP growth fell from 4.7% in 2013 to 1.6% in 2014.

The policy rate of the Bank of Ghana increased from 19% in September 2014 to 21% by December 2014, and consequently affected the interest rate of 91-day Treasury bills to close the year at 25% from 22% at beginning of the year.

These factors and many others had direct and indirect consequences on the operations of the bank during the year under review.

In spite of the above challenges, Asante Akyem Rural Bank performed satisfactorily well during the period under review and succeeded in putting up a satisfactory performance to raise the major financial aggregates: such as Deposits, Total Assets, Paid-up Capital, Loans and Advances portfolio.

The bank continues to offer assistance to communities and institutions within its operational territories in terms of community development projects. A total amount of approximately GH¢15,190 was spent in this direction and as part of the bank’s corporate social responsibility, as against GH¢6,405 the previous year.

Sectors of the economy that benefitted from the package include education, health and community development among others.

The bank opened its ninth branch in Kumasi at Roman Hill to provide quality banking services in Kumasi, especially those in and around the central market. Management therefore hopes that the new branch will augment the deposit mobilisation drive to enable the bank mobilise more deposits and increase its profit.

General Manager of the bank, Mr. Atta Gyamfi, in an interview with Business & Financial Times said the Board and management will continue to develop strategies aimed at growing the bank in all aspects of its operations.

According to him, last year much of the bank’s effort was directed toward offering microfinance services to micro enterprises in the bank’s catchment areas, with the aim of alleviating poverty among rural folk and empowering them financially.

He emphasised that the bank will continue to pursue a massive share and deposit mobilisation drive, follow stringent cost reduction policies, strengthen internal control measures, and develop the human capital to meet demands of functioning profitability in the competitive rural banking environment.

The Board Chairman in his concluding remarks acknowledged the Board, Management and staff’s commitment to the bank’s achievements -- recounting that their individual and collective efforts have culminated in improvements of its operational results for 2014. He urged all to continue to give of their best for continued and sustained growth of the bank.