Standard Chartered Bank Ghana on Wednesday assured shareholders that the planned bonus share offer would come off in the last quarter of this year.

The shareholders in 2011 approved the Board's proposed plan to issue five bonus shares for every share held.

The move is to enable the Bank meet the requirement of Ghana Stock Exchange for all listed companies to have a minimum of 100 million shares by 2012.

Mr Sunjay Rughani, Executive Director Finance-Standard Chartered Bank Ghana, told shareholders at the bank’s Annual General Meeting in Accra that the new shares would be given in line with the approval last year.

He said however that, there was no immediate timeline as there were issues of regulatory approval.

Meanwhile, the bank has announced a fourth successive year of record profits, demonstrating that it has the right leadership and strategy in place to consistently deliver value to shareholders.

The Bank's profit before tax rose 12.3 per cent to GH¢114 million while the overall balance sheet registered an impressive 18 per cent growth to GH¢1.97 billion.

Wholesale banking delivered solid financial performance of 14 per cent operating profit growth at GH¢84.5 million, while Consumer Banking saw its income up by seven per cent to GH¢27.6 million.

Mr Kweku Bedu-Addo, Chief Executive, Standard Chartered Bank Ghana, said the performance was achieved despite the uncertainty in the global environment.

“We are well positioned to continue lifting our performance in 2012 and beyond. We will continue to identify and support new and emerging opportunities in the country and invest in people, infrastructure and systems to ensure consistent growth,” he said.

The shareholders approved a dividend of GH¢3.05 per share.**