Savelugu (N/R), April 26, GNA - The Borimanga Rural Bank on Saturday held its maiden Annual General Meeting at Savelugu in the Savelugu/Nanton District and declared a "modest" profit of GH¢ 5,000 as at December 31, 2007.
Presenting a report covering December 15, 2004, the inception of the bank, to December 31, 2007, Alhaji Fuseini Seidu, Chairman of the Board of Directors told the meeting that "the 2007 un-audited accounts of the bank recorded a modest profit of GH¢ 5,000, reflecting a determination of the bank to be profitable and in good time".
Alhaji Seidu said the bank's total assets for the period stood at GH¢ 801,019.29 while total deposits were GH¢ 645,72 as against GH¢ 258,628 for December 2006, representing an increase of 150 per cent. He said investments rose from GH¢ 125,000 in 2006 to GH¢ 150,000 in 2007, showing an increase of 20 per cent, while the bank granted loans totalling GH¢ 228,277 adding: "These results indicate that your bank is growing and will post even stronger results in the coming years".
On the operational results for 2005, the Board Chairman said the bank recorded a net loss of GH¢ 19,715.69 as at December 31, 2005 and attributed the reason for the loss largely to the amortisation of the huge preliminary expense.
He said, however, that during the same period the bank's deposit base, share capital and investment showed appreciable increases.
Alhaji Seidu told the shareholders that an analysis of the bank's deposit base from its inception to the end of the third quarter of 2006 indicated that Borimanga had to go "the extra mile" to reach out to majority of the people within the district.
To this end, he said the Board decided in the last quarter of 2006 to introduce micro-financing into the bank's operations and launched the "Borimanga Small Loans and Empowerment Scheme (BLSEP), whose target were mainly women, who wanted to begin and expand small enterprises in trade, services and small-scale production sectors.
He said the bank disbursed the initial set of loans in January 2007 to 1,296 women within the Savelugu Township, adding that by December the same year, 2,600 women had benefited from the BSLEP.
"As we meet today, BSLEP has stretched to cover areas such as Nanton, Pong-Tamale, Bagurugu and Tamaligu", he said. Alhaji Seidu mentioned other micro-credit lines through which beneficiaries could access loans and said: "Taking all together, Borimanga Bank now reaches out to 3,000 rural borrowers lending out GH¢ 355,600 and our recovery rates have been outstanding ensuring that we maintain a very strong portfolio quality".
The Board Chairman announced that the Bank had successfully entered into "fruitful" partnership with a number of agencies, notably among them, the UNDP, with which it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU).
Under the package, he said the UNDP would make available a grant capital and technical support to the bank for a five-year period, adding that the bank had since received an initial support of GH¢ 10,000 and training packages from the UNDP.
On future plans, Alhaji Seidu said with the positive financial indicators, the bank intended to open its two proposed agencies in Tamale and Nanton by the end of this year, expand micro-credit to its entire catchment area, develop and launch two more products and acquire land for the construction of its head office as the current premise were always overcrowded.
In an address read on his behalf, Mr Eric Osei-Bonsu, Managing Director of ARP Apex Bank noted with satisfaction the increases in the bank's total assets, income and deposits, as well as the establishment of an internal control department to ensure compliance and efficiency. He, however, implored the bank to institute good credit management policies to ensure high loan recovery rate and thereby reduce "bad and doubtful" debts provision.
He also urged the bank to enhance its micro-finance programmes to be able to perform to the satisfaction of the stakeholders saying: " In the face of dwindling interest rates, the future of rural banking lies with micro-finance, which has proven to be very profitable".
Mr Osei-Bonsu advised the Board to continue to motivate the staff for increased productivity and prevent high labour turnover, which he said, could derail the progress of the bank.
Alhaji Abubakari Atori, the Savelugu/Nanton District Chief Executive expressed satisfaction that since its inception, the Borimanga Rural Bank had not experience any embezzlement or financial malfeasance. He, however, urged the bank to employ due diligence in the granting of loan to ensure that only those who duly qualify for the facility benefited, adding: "You need to closely monitor the activities of the beneficiaries to ensure that the loans are used for the intended purpose".
The DCE used the opportunity to call for tolerance and the accommodation of divergent views from supporters of the various political parties as the campaign towards the December general election gathered momentum.
