RURAL BANKS CHARGED TO PROVIDE QUALITY SERVICES
From Samuel Agbewode, Worawora
The Acting Managing Director of the ARB Apex Bank Limited, Mr. K.A Kusi, has stressed the need for rural banks to provide quality service to its customers, as well as to invest in the training programme for the staff, to help improve on quality of service that would ensure accelerated growth of the rural banking system in the country.
Mr. Kusi asked rural banks to make good use of the available technology in the banking system to enhance activities that would re-position their operations to make banking more attractive to people in the country and to also help build the culture of savings among the people.
In a speech read for him at the 11th Annual General meeting of the Asubonten Rural Bank at Worawora, he urged rural banks to manage their advances effectively, in order to avoid incurring large amounts of bad debts by adopting efficient loan monitoring strategies to ensure that loans granted to their customers were completely recovered.
Mr. Kusi also urged rural banks to equally take advantage of foreign money transfer services such as the MoneyGram, Western Union and Vigo to provide quality and reliable services to attract more clients to help improve on commission for rural banks in the country.
The Board Chairman of the Asubonten Rural Bank, Nana Ansah Gyamera III, announced that the Asubonten Rural Bank with its headquarters at Worawora increased its deposit by GHC820,787.00 from GHC2,182,978.00 as at 31st December, 2010 to GH¢3,003,765.00 as at 31st December 2011, representing 38 percent growth.
Nana Ansah Gyamera disclosed that the Bank’s profit before tax for the year 2011 was GH¢45, 847.00 which was a drop below the 2010 total sum of GH¢84, 967.00 and attributed the fall to expenses incurred during computerization, coupled with non-performing loans that were written off.
The Board Chairman further noted that the Bank’s stated capital of GH¢216, 258.00 exceeded the Bank of Ghana’s minimum capital requirement of GH¢150, 000.00 and appealed to existing and prospective shareholders to buy more shares that would help improve the capital base of the Bank to enable it to embark on more businesses.
Nana Ansah Gyamera said the Board was satisfied with the performance of the Bank saying the Bank would soon up-grade the branches at Kpando, Dambai, Hohoe, and Chinderi.
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