Nwabiagya Rural Bank posts 43% growth in profit

The Nwabiagya Rural Bank Limited at Barekese in the Nwabiagya District of Ashanti Region has posted a very remarkable performance in all the financial indicators of the 2012 year under review.

The Bank posted a net profit of approximately GH¢1.9million in the 2012 period under review as against a little over GH¢1.34million in the previous year, representing a remarkable growth of 42.8%.

The Bank recorded a total deposit of about GH¢35million in the year 2012 under review as against a little over GH¢28million in the previous year, representing 23.7% growth.This was due to the intensified mobilisation drive pursued by directors and management, coupled with the ever-increasing public confidence in the operations of the Bank.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors, Nana OwusuSarfoAnwona, announced this at the 25th Annual General Meeting of shareholders held last Friday at Offinso,which was the climax of the Bank’s Silver Jubilee celebrations. The celebration was themed“25years of Excellence in Rural Banking; Nurturing and providing affordable and competitive financial services”.

According to him, the year under review was quite a difficult one due to a number of challenges posed from the operating environment. Some of the challenges he mentioned include thatthe prime rate, although not too high, could not achieve the expectant result of the private sector taking advantage to access loans for further expansion of existing businesses. Rather, businesses remained stagnant as input prices kept on rising.

Hikes in the price of utilities and fuel added to the manufacturers’ factory costs, and the spillover effect on prices of wares displayed in the markets was enormous.

He further mentioned the lack of brisk business activities in the economy,which did not encourage borrowing by the private sector as the situation during the period under review seriously got very close to that of an economic recession.

In respect to these difficulties that had to be surmounted, the Bank redefined its operational strategies considering its strength, weaknesses, and the external threats and opportunities to mitigate the far-reaching effects.

In spite of the challenges, the Bank performed creditably well during the year under review as depicted in the table below. The Directors of the Bank have recommended dividend payment of GH¢0.022per share for the year under review. The total dividend proposed for the year under review is three hundred and thirty-eight thousand, seven hundred and thirty-four Ghana cedis, (GH¢338,734).

cvv The Bank continued to offer assistance to communities and institutions within its operational territories in terms of community development projects. A total amount of approximately GH¢75,000 was spent in this direction and as part of the Bank’s corporate social responsibility.

The Board Chairman in his concluding remarks acknowledged the commitment of the Board, Management and staff to the objectives of the Bank, recounting that their individual and collective efforts have culminated in the significant improvement of the Bank’s operational results for 2012.