By Patrick Obeng
Abokobi (G/A), Aug. 23, GNA – The Abokobi Rural Bank Limited has recorded an impressive performance of Ghc400,328 for 2021 as against Ghc93,296 in 2020, representing an increase of 330.11per cent.
The bank’s total assets rose from Ghc29.5 million in 2020 to Ghc35 million in 2021, an increase of 20 per cent.
The total deposits also grew from Ghc24.2 million in 2020 to Ghc30.4million in the year under review, registering an increase of 25.68 per cent.
Operating income increased from Ghc4.9 million in 2020 to Ghc 6.3 million in 2021, accounting for 29.13 per cent.
Naa Odofoley Nortey, the Board Chairperson of the Bank, disclosed this at the 30th Annual General Meeting at Abokobi in the Ga East Municipality of the Greater Accra Region.
She said the business and micro-economic environment in which the bank operated during the fiscal year was very challenging, adding that the banking sector had been struggling to recover from the effects of the financial sector reforms and the impact of Covid-19 pandemic.
The Board Chairperson said despite the Bank of Ghana’s continuous revision of regulatory policy to improve financial services and support critical sectors of the economy, it took a lot of strategies for businesses to survive.
The banking sector remained generally liquid, profitable, well capitalised and resilient, she said, and that the strong policy support and regulatory reliefs continued to impact positively on the industry’s performance.
“The dynamism of the banking environment continues to necessitate a clear path to stay ahead of the competition among other challenges in the industry,” Naa Nortey said.
She noted that the Board was still focused on the Five-Year Strategic Plan as the policy direction to ensure growth of the Bank.
“As a reminder and reinforcement of our quest the strategic plan is aimed at three fundamental goals, which are pursuing growth, maximising shareholders value, and community development.”
“Our focus remains firmly on our mission, which is to be the top rural bank in the Greater Accra Region through a well-motivated products and superior customer service in rural banking,” Naa Nortey said.
The Board Chairperson said despite the Bank of Ghana’s temporal ban on the payment of dividend, the Board and Management would continue to recognise the importance of enhancing and sustaining the shareholders’ value maximisation through ensuring the bank’s profitability.
She said they had written to Bank of Ghana to apprise the payment of dividend for the year based on the recognition that the shareholders had not received dividends on their investment for quite some time prior to the directive.
“It is our hope that the request will be granted to enable us to meet your dividend expectation.”
Mr Alex Kwasi Awuah, the Managing Director of ARB Apex Bank Limited, in an address read for him, commended the bank for the sterling performance and expressed the hope that it would introduce more products to ensure profit sustainability in the ensuing years.
GNA