Abokobi Rural Bank still on profit path

The Abokobi Area Rural Bank Limited, a pioneer rural bank in the country, continued its path of greater profitability chalking over GHȼ103,000.00 profit as at May this year.

“The impressive performance by the bank is being attained following major decisions in 2011 the bank took which in the end saw its assets growing by more than 43%,” the General Manager of the bank, Mr Jonathan .O. Adamah told the Ghana News Agency at its recent annual general meeting.

The major decisions included the completion of the bank’s network of its branches under the T24 Banking Software Programme, the expansion of its Dome branch and the completion of the Adentan branch, all in the greater Accra Region.

“We are poised to stay above the waters despite the growing turbulence in the financial sector coupled with the global economic crisis as our board leverage on their rich expertise to implement the right measures to attract potential investors,” he said.

In the face of growing competition, Mr Adamah believes the skills of the bank’s staff and developing more demand-driven products, would enable them to diversify the bank’s income streams.

The bank last year (2011) made a modest profit after tax of GHȼ49,810.00. Time Deposits increased by 75.98% from GHȼ292,600.00 in 2010 to GHȼ971,514.00 in 2011. Savings grew by 35% from GHȼ1,798,887.00 in 2010 to GHȼ2,428,558.00 last year.

At its 2012 annual general meeting of shareholders at the weekend, the Board Chairman Nii Afutu Brempong III, said the bank had adopted measures such as aggressive customer care training and staff motivation as means to retain and attract more customers.

During the 2011 annual financial year of the bank, he said, the bank advances to cottage industry and commerce increased at 14.94% and 52.14% respectively whilst that of the agriculture sector dipped by 5.39%.

The bank’s stated capital saw a marginal increase from GH¢180,676.00 in 2010 to GH¢182,616.00 and has pegged the current price per share at GH¢0.10 in order to attract more shareholders and holdings to improve the capital base.

The bank again supported a number of communities as well as individuals in the education and health sectors. Nii Brempong III, therefore, encouraged parents to support their children to work harder in school in order for them to qualify to benefit more from the bank’s scholarship scheme.

Source: GNA