The Sonzele Rural Bank made a pre-tax profit of 255 thousand, 671, Ghana Cedis (GH₵255,671) for the 2017 financial year which ended on 31st December.
The feat was chalked up in spite of considerable challenges the banking industry witnessed over the period under review including a low interest rate of an average of 12.5% and low rate in government paper such as treasury bills.
The Board Chairman of Sonzele Rural Bank, Mathias K. Samwine announced this at the 28th Annual General Meeting of the Bank at Jirapa in the Upper West Region.
GBC’s Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo reports that the share capital of the Bank witnessed a slide growth and it enabled the Bank to meet the one-million-Ghana-Cedi (GH₵1,000,000)minimum requirement of the Bank of Ghana.
The Board Chairman, Mr. Samwine pointed out that the Bank is floating shares at one Ghana Cedi (GH₵1.00) per share to further grow the share capital of the Bank and entreated current prospective shareholders to buy more shares.
The Mr. Samwine highlighted some of the key performance areas of the Bank which measured the strength and growth of the Bank which included deposits, advances and investments.
The Wa Branch Manager of ARP Apex Bank, John Kwaku Nyamador who stood in for the Managing Director of ARP Apex Bank, Kojo Mattah, praised Sonzele Rural Bank for placing ninth (9th) position the in the 2018 second quarter review of all Rural and Community Banks (RBCs) across the country.
Mr. Nyamador indicated that: “Despite the turbulent economic conditions experienced in the year under review, [Sonzele Rural] Bank was able to increase its total assets from 15 million, 348 thousand, and 96 Ghana Cedis (GH₵ 15,348,096.00) in 2016 to 18 million, 693 thousand,393 Ghana Cedis (GH₵ 18,693,393.00) in 2018 depicting a brighter future for the bank.”`
He advised RBCs to adopt rigorous internal control measures to prevent dishonest people from exploiting the weak system to the disadvantage to banks.
Mr. Nyamador commended the General Manager of Sonzele Rural Bank, Kenneth Dassah for his hard work and dedication to duty which has brought the Bank this far.
The DCE for Nadowli-Kaleo, Katherine Lankono praised the bank for contributing immensely to the socio-economic development of its catchment area and appealed to the bank to open two more agencies in the Sankana and Naro enclaves.
She said the establishment of “a fully-fledged micro-finance department” by the Bank to help mitigate rural poverty is refreshing.
The DCE observed that Sankana and Naro are far from banking facilities even though they are viable areas with potential customers and expressed the hope that her appeal for two more agencies in Nadowli-Kaleo District will be considered.
Story by Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo
