Shai Rural Bank to be recapitalised

The Shai Rural Bank is to be recapitalized to the tone of 4 million Ghana cedis before end of 2014 following fruitful recovery measures adopted by management after a near plunge into insolvency.

Mr Ebenezer Djagbeletey, Board Chairman of the bank, told shareholders at the Annual General Meeting on Saturday that measures had been taken to resuscitate the bank and called for support and patience to see the institution through the difficult times.

“All the negatives which ganged up to push the bank into near insolvency were overstaffing, corruption and incompetence,” he said.

He assured shareholders that the bad practices had been eliminated and announced that a rebranding exercise was underway to restore confidence and the marketability of the bank.

Mr Djagbelety said four financial institutions were awaiting the report of a forensic auditing conducted on the operation of the bank to declare their full intentions and commitments as strategic investors.

“They are certainly willing to put money into the bank because of the strategic importance of the bank but they must know what went wrong and what steps will be taken to make the bank viable,” he said

A shareholder, Narkwor Narh-Bana, called for more stringent measures to save the bank as previous managements failed to properly supervise staff.

No dividend was declared.

The Shai Rural Bank inched towards insolvency after depositors panicked and reacted to alleged stealing and misapplication of funds by withdrawing their deposits in droves.

A high ranking official in the bank who pleaded anonymity, said loans were rampantly given out to both staff and favoured customers without recourse to banking rules and best practices.

The Shai Rural Bank, headquartered in Dodowa in the Greater Accra Region, has existed for more than 30 years.

It was established primarily to mobilize deposits within its catchment area which is predominantly agrarian, design and offer appropriate financial services to boost rural based economic activities.