Rural banks asked to upgrade skills to meet clients demand

Mr Duke Osam, Acting Managing Director of ARB Apex Bank Limited, at the weekend appealed to rural banks in the country to strategise and improve on their expertise to meet the sophisticated demands of clients.

He explained that apart from providing adequate infrastructure, financial institutions needed to upgrade the skills of their personnel because customers were becoming more sophisticated.

Mr Osam made the call in a speech read on his behalf at the Annual General Meeting of the Builsa Community Bank, in Sandema in the Upper East Region.

He said developments in the rural banking sector required that  banks must  improve their services.

Mr Osam said ARB Apex Bank through the erstwhile Rural Financial Services Project, had provided funds to clear and update all share registers.

He said the Bank would soon establish a unit to manage the shares of rural banks, including the payment of dividends and related services.

Mr Osam said efforts were being made to improve the rural banking system, particularly rural community banks pension funds, automation of apexlink money transfer, and to increase capital.

He said risk management, internal controls, customer service and training would also be improved.

Mr Osam congratulated the Builsa Community Bank for achieving a net profit of GH¢144,092, an increase of 34 per cent for 2010 as against 107,765 Ghana Cedis in 2009.

Mr Edward Atagabe, Board Chairman of the Builsa Community Bank said the bank in 2010 recorded GH¢824,032 as against operational income of GH¢627,567. an increase of GH¢196,465.

He said the bank’s total deposits for the year under review amounted to GH¢3,343,417 as against GH¢2,429,012 in 2009, an increase of 37 per cent.

Mr Atagabe said as part from the Bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility, GH¢3,533.00 was spent on education, culture, and agriculture.

Source: GNA