Banks complain about police charges

The Board Chairman of South Birim Rural Bank, Robert Amoah has stated that charges imposed on Rural Banks by the Ghana Police Service for security services are too exorbitant and is gradually crippling their operations.

According to him, the monies paid to the police service has been increased astronomically causing huge financial burden to rural banks.

Amoah mentioned that, South Birim paid a total of Gh?13,580.00 to the Police Service in 2013, however, due to the increment, a total of Gh?74, 8850.00 was paid to the Police in 2014, a situation the Board Chairman describes as challenging.

Speaking at the 13th Annual General Meeting of the bank at Akyem Achiase in the Eastern region, the chairman said the bank spent a total of Gh?130,777.00 on Police Charges and fuel due to the erratic power supply which the "bank could have used to expand its operations in giving loans and even employing many young men and women."

The South Birim Rural bank grew by 17% in 2014 over 2013 with it total asset growing from Gh15,292,657.00 in 2013 to Gh?17,891,444.00 in 2014.