Mr Anthony Effah, Board Chairman of the Breman Rural Bank Limited in the Central Region, says the year 2014 ended with an overall deficit of 9.4 per cent.

“These and other challenges made the bank to record a loss of GH¢ 145,252 as against a profit after tax of GH¢ 109,162 in 2013,” he said.

The Board Chairman was delivering his report to shareholders at the 30th Annual General Meeting of the Breman Rural Bank Limited at Brakwa in the Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa District.

Mr Effah said the total operating income stood at GH¢ 1, 780, 730 in 2014 as compared to GH¢ 1,488,155 representing 19. 6 per cent increase in ‘our income’.

He said out of GH¢ 1,583,742 was interest income and GH¢ 216,592 was from commissions, fees and other income sources.

Mr Effah said the total operating expense during the period under review increased significantly from GH¢ 1,323,653 to GH¢ 1,848,730 adding that this could be attributed to the high operational cost during the period.

He said deposit levels increased from GH¢ 3,936,550 in 2013 to GH¢ 4,467,773 in 2014 representing13.5 per cent growth adding that in spite of the difficult economic situation of 2014, total assets increased from GH¢ 6,289,873 in 2013 to GH¢ 6,417,071 in 2014.

Mr Kwadwo Aye Kusi, Managing Director of The ARB Apex Bank Limited, in a speech delivered on his behalf, commended the bank the work done but expressed unhappiness with the drop in the profit before tax.

He said the bank need to put in place appropriate internal control measures to help deal with the numerous frauds besetting the bank and the repayment of loans, to help minimise the operational losses.

He said there was the need to ensure capital adequacy, regulatory developments, risk management, internal controls and compliance, liquidity management and credit management among others.

Mr Kaedabi Donkor, General Manager of Breman Rural Bank, told the Ghana News Agency that in accordance with report on the legal and regulatory requirements in respect of “The Ghana Company Code, 1953 (Act 179)”, the bank’s financial income statements and the cash flow statements were in agreement with the books of accounts, as enshrined in Section 78(2) of the Banking Act 2004 (Act 673).