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The regulator for the Association of Rural Banks, the Apex Bank says it does not see the revocation of the licenses of its members; following the February 28th deadline for all its members to meet their stated capital requirements.
The Central Bank is yet to declare the full list of rural banks which met the minimum capital which was pegged at 1 million cedis from the 2015 figure of 300 thousand.
All the 141 rural and community banks were expected to graduate their paid-up capital to 500,000 by December 2016 and 1million by the end of 2017.
A huge number of the banks were however unable to meet the deadline; soliciting a February 28th, 2020 grace period issued by the Central Bank.
A week after the deadline, the mother regulatory body of the Association of Rural Banks, the Apex Bank says it is confident all its members have met the requirement with some exceeding their targets.
The Kumasi Manager of the ARB Apex Bank George Kwaku Annor made the disclosures during the opening of a new branch of Kumawuman Rural Bank in the heart of Kejetia in the Ashanti regional capital Kumasi.
He told reporter Ivan Heathcote – Fumador, “Because all rural banks are community based, no community wants its bank to be liquidated so every community is doing its best in its power to get the minimum capital for its rural bank. Almost all the rural banks have attained it and some of them have even exceeded the target.”
Board Member of Kumawuman Rural Bank Charles Kwadwo Nimo who represented the Board Chair Dr. Kwabena Duffour pointed out that the bank has reached a share capital of 2.2 million cedis way beyond the 1 million required by the Central Bank.
He noted that the bank is targeting a 5 million share capital as it rolls out incentives for huge shareholder capital injection.
Managing Director of the Kumawuman Rural bank Emmanuel Takyie Ankrah indicated that the decision of the bank to draw close to the Central Business District of Kumasi reflects the commitment of Rural Banks to contribute to Ghana’s drive towards total financial inclusion of the unbanked and under-banked in society.
He explained, “We are a listening bank that believes in providing tailor made solutions to meet the demands of our customers. Many of our depositors trade in the central business district and have to carry money to our branches but we listened to their call and decided to create a branch close to them.”
The New Kejetia Branch of the Kumawuman Rural Bank brings its branches in the Ashanti region to 13 with 38 years of solid banking history providing a wide range of savings, deposit, investment and loans to various categories of clients.
