Ankobra West Rural Bank in the Ellembelle District of the Western Region recorded profit before tax of GH¢171,711 in the year 2012 as against GH¢147,302 in 2011, representing an increase of 16.5 per cent.

The bank’s total income also increased from GH¢586,484 in 2011 to GH¢1,038,272 in 2012, representing a growth of 77.03 per cent. Its operating expenses shot up from GH¢451,738 in 2011 to GH¢767,042.

Mike Ezan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Rural Bank, stated this at the 21st Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at Esiama in the Ellembelle District last Saturday.

He revealed that the bank’s asset base grew by 79.01 per cent from 176,375 in 2011 to GH¢7,476,429, noting that the increase was as a result of substantial growth in deposit base and sustained growth in loans and advances portfolio.

He also noted that the bank registered significant growth in deposit liabilities in 2012, which increased from GH¢3,284,181 in 2011 to GH¢5,816,932 in 2012.

“The increase in deposits was achieved on the backdrop of fierce and persistent competition from sister rural banks, microfinance and ‘Susu’ companies, which have invaded and appear to have landed comfortably in our catchment area,” he added.

Mr. Ezan mentioned that fierce competition was likely to continue to hurt the bank in the future and called on the financial institution to continue to improve its service delivery in order to retain the goodwill of the customers.

He pointed out that the bank continued to support the improvement of the local economy by giving loans to petty traders, small-scale enterprises and those in the transportation sector, among others.

He indicated the rural bank had consistently paid dividend over the last few years and that the board proposed a total cash dividend payment of GH¢45,000 as against GH¢40,000 in 2011, representing 31 per cent of the profit after tax of GH¢142,434.

He appealed to the shareholders of the bank to acquire more shares in the bank to enable the rural bank meet the Bank of Ghana’s current capital requirement.

Wallace Essuman, Assistant Director, Other Financial Institutions Supervision Department (OFISD) of Bank of Ghana (BoG), disclosed that his outfit had revised the minimum paid-up capital requirement of Rural Community Banks (RCBs) from GH¢150,000.00 to GH¢300,000.00.

“Subsequently, all new applicants for rural banking licenses would be required to meet the new capital requirement,” he added. He called on existing RCBs to grow their capital to meet the capital requirement in order to expand their businesses.

Kwadwo Aya Kusi, Managing Director of ARB Apex Bank Limited, stressed that banking is dependent on the provision of quality service to customers.

“It is therefore important for your bank to address customer service by investing in training programmes that will help the staff to improve on service delivery,” he emphasized.