Bosomtwe Rural Bank records heavy profits in 2008 fiscal year

Kuntanase July 11, GNA- The Bosomtwe Rural Bank, has recorded a profit of Gh¢395,694.21 during the 2008 financial year, as against the Gh¢368,280.30 registered in 2007. Mr Simon Osei-Mensah, Chairman of the Board of Directors who announced this at Kuntanese, at the bank's 19th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of shareholders, attributed the gains to increase investment and improvement in the debt recovery rate by the Credit Department of the Bank.

Mr Osei-Mensah who is also the Member of Parliament for the area, said the total assets of the bank increased from Gh¢ 8,282,472.56 in 2007 to Gh¢9,621,062.58 in 2008, representing an increase of 16.17 per cent. The total deposit also rose from Gh¢ 6,499,717.37 in 2007 to Gh¢ 7,612,049.69 in 2008, marking an increase of 17.12 per cent. The net worth of the bank saw a drastic improvement with an increase of Gh¢1,692,651.70 in 2008 as against Gh¢1, 136, 255,68 in 2007, which also represent 48.9 per cent increase, while investment increased from 2,707,000 in 2007 to Gh¢2,917,000.00 in 2008. Mr Osei-Mensah said the bank granted loans to the tune of Gh¢ 8,179,807.01 to customers, while loan recovery stood at Gh¢ 7,094,089.08.

He said as part of the bank's social responsibilities Gh¢16,980.02 was spent on development projects in its catchments area. Based on the resolution of last year's AGM, 25 per cent of the bank's profit has been earmarked as dividend to shareholders. Mr Osei-Mensah said the attractive dividends paid in previous years led the bank to clench the topmost position of share capital among rural and community banks on 31st March. Mr Osei-Mensah eulogised the staff of the bank for their dedication to duty, which had led to the giant strides and asked them to keep up the spirit.

Mr Edward Nti Berko, Bosomtwe District Chief Executive in a speech read on his behalf, called on the bank to expand its operations by providing more financial support to farmers, small and medium scale enterprises and other interventions, to better the standards of living of the people.

He called on the bank to collaborate with the assembly to assess funds available under the Rural Enterprise Project Micro-Credit scheme. Mr Eric Osei-Bonsu, Managing Director of ARB Apex Bank Ltd, commended the bank for being very dynamic in developing new financial products and repackaging existing ones to meet the needs of customers. He also praised the bank for expanding its outreach programmes in the micro-finance sector by providing financial services to low income earners who could not have any direct relations with a traditional bank. In a speech read on his behalf, Mr Osei-Bonsu asked rural banks to restructure their operations by adopting innovative means like Information, Communication and Technology and effective deposit mobilisation and credit administration among other things.