Bank of revises sections of rural and community banks regulations

Ajumako (C/R), Sept. 28, GNA-The Bank of Ghana in its attempt at refocusing and re-engineering the rural banking concepts has revised sections of the Rural and Community Banks regulations. Under the new regulations corporate ownership of Rural and Community Banks is restricted to 50 per cent, while financial institutions are not allowed to hold shares in rural banks. Mr. Duke Osam-Dudou, Deputy Managing Director of the ARB Apex bank said this at the 26th Annual General Meeting of the Enyan Denkyira Rural Bank at Ajumako in the Central Region on Saturday. According to Mr. Osam Dudou, under the new regulations, the new minimum capital requirement for Rural and Community Banks (RCB) is 150,000 Ghana Cedis, adding that, existing RCBs are required to grow their stated capital to that amount. "Rural and Community Banks with stated capital of below 150,000 Ghana Cedis would not be allowed to pay dividend or open new branches or agencies."

Ajumako (C/R), Sept. 28, GNA-The Bank of Ghana in its attempt at refocusing and re-engineering the rural banking concepts has revised sections of the Rural and Community Banks regulations. Under the new regulations corporate ownership of Rural and Community Banks is restricted to 50 per cent, while financial institutions are not allowed to hold shares in rural banks. Mr. Duke Osam-Dudou, Deputy Managing Director of the ARB Apex bank said this at the 26th Annual General Meeting of the Enyan Denkyira Rural Bank at Ajumako in the Central Region on Saturday. According to Mr. Osam Dudou, under the new regulations, the new minimum capital requirement for Rural and Community Banks (RCB) is 150,000 Ghana Cedis, adding that, existing RCBs are required to grow their stated capital to that amount. "Rural and Community Banks with stated capital of below 150,000 Ghana Cedis would not be allowed to pay dividend or open new branches or agencies." Mr. Osam-Dudou said that, only two of the 21 rural banks in the Central Region have stated capital of 150,000 Ghana Cedis and above. He urged management of the Enyan Denkyira Rural Bank to continue to improve upon performance and step-up its operations in order to maintain its presence in the banking industry. He also urged the bank to ensure that they expand their product base to include the introduction of new and innovative banking products such as microfinance products and agricultural insurance products. The chairman of the Board of Directors of the Enyan Denkyira Rural Bank, Mr. William P. Bray said the bank made a net profit of 49,152 Ghana Cedis in 2007 as against 43,174 in 2006. He said the bank the bank's total income increased from 140,758 Ghana Cedis in 2006 to 149,456 in 2007. According to Mr. Bray, the bank's deposit grew from 690,422 Ghana Cedis in 2006 to 1,007,331 Ghana Cedis due to prudent work by management and staff of the bank. He appealed to the Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam District Assembly to deposit some of the funds received from the Bank of Ghana in the bank instead of Cape Coast, Assinman and Mankesim rural banks. 28 Sept. 08