Nsawam’s Citizens Rural Bank makes 22.6% profit
The Citizens Rural Bank at Nsawam made a profit of GH¢50,796 in 2011 as against a loss of GH¢41,417.00 in 2010, an increase of 22.6 percent.
Mr Emmanuel Yevenyo, Acting Chairman of the Board of Directors, who announced this at the third Annual General Meeting of the Bank at Nsawam, said total income in 2011 was GH¢263,268.00 as against GH¢141,749.00 in 2010, an increase of 85.73 percent.
“Total assets grew from GH¢909,590.00 in 2010 to GH¢1,232,205.00 in 2011, an increase of 35.47 percent”.
He said loans and overdrafts grew from GH¢351,091.00 in 2010 to GH¢585,915.60 in 2011, an increase of 66.88 percent.
Mr Yevenyo further disclosed that deposits grew from GH¢675,753.00 in 2010 to GH¢1,109,364.00 in 2011 while shareholder funds grew from GH¢17,638.00 in 2010 to GH¢69,141 in 2011.
He said the banks performance could be described as “excellent” and a turnaround but they were not on the high grounds yet.
“A lot is needed to be done, indeed bad loans remain a challenge and we urge our loan and overdraft beneficiaries to pay their facilities quickly enough in order to let us give back same to the rest of the customers who may need such facilities”.
Mr Yevenyo said there were other challenges in respect of cost to income ratio and other financial performance indicators that were not as excellent as expected.
He said the Board and Management was fully aware of those challenges and would address them to ensure that the bank is in top 10 log on the league of performing Rural Banks in the country by the next reporting date.
Mr Yevenyo said the Board was working on a strategic document for the medium as well as the long term development of the bank adding that plans were ongoing to open more branches at Ofankor, Pokuase, Kotoku and Dome in the next three years.
He said the Board also intends to further develop the “Susu” scheme with good internal control measures and increase in the number of sales staff and customer support staff.
Mr Duke Osam-Duodu, Acting Managing Director, ARB Apex Bank Limited, in a speech read on his behalf, said the Apex Bank in collaboration with the Danish Government through its development wing, the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) had established a new product to assist Rural and Community Banks.
He said the product was made up of four key components: namely the Rural Finance Wholesale Fund, Merger Fund, and Capacity Building Support for rural banking and Human Resource development of the Apex Bank.
Mr Osam-Duodu challenged the bank to institute a risk management policy to identify, assess, monitor and control operational and credit risks among others.
Source: GNA