Akwapim Rural Bank holds thanksgiving service
The management of the Akwapim Rural Bank Limited has instituted a number of internal control measures in its operations to block all leakages and consolidate the bank's performance in the small and medium-scale enterprise (SME) sector.
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As part of that initiative, the staff at the revenue mobilisation and internal audit units of the bank will be taken through capacity building programmes to make them efficient in their operations.
The General Manager of the bank, Mr Samuel Mbir, who made this known to the Daily Graphic, said the improvement in corporate governance was another key area that the bank would focus on in the next few years.
He was speaking on the sidelines of a thanksgiving service held by the bank at the Emmanuel Congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana at Mamfe Akwapim in the Eastern Region.
The thanksgiving service was against the backdrop of the feat the bank chalked up as the best rural bank at the maiden awards ceremony by the Association of Rural Banks (ARB) in 2016.
The biennial award was based on criteria such as profitability, corporate governance, deposit mobilisation and growth within the period under review.
SMEs
Mr Mbir observed that the SME sector was the heartbeat of the bank, stressing that "our focus is to leverage our operations in the SME sector, because it has been the backbone of our performance".
He added that in its quest to build a strong SME sector, the bank was focused on guarding against all issues of fraud in order to build the confidence of customers.
"As we plan to strengthen internal controls and internal checks on our transactions, criminal elements will also undertake frantic efforts to beat the system. But we will ensure that we stay ahead by employing latest technology and vigilant internal audit to ensure that we engage in safe transactions," he said.
The Chairman of the bank’s board, Mr George K. Oware, observed that the feat attained by the financial institution was due to the strength and quality of the management and the board.
He said the preoccupation of the board in the short, medium, to long term would be to grow the present profitability level of the bank through aggressive sourcing of quality loan clients, investment of surplus funds in high-yielding instruments, improvement in loan monitoring to reduce defaults, enhancement of non-traditional sources of income and expansion of business operations to other communities such as Madina and Suhum.
“We are putting in place measures to prevent fraud. We do not want what has happened in other financial institutions, where some customers have been swindled, to happen in our bank,” he added.
Thanksgiving service
Dressed in white attire, the staff and management of the bank, including the current and former board members, joined members of the Emmanuel Congregation to give praise to God for His care and protection.
It was a joyous mood as the gathering sang, waved white handkerchiefs and danced to glorify God.
In the sermon, a Presbyter of the Emmanuel Congregation, Mr Nathaniel Entsie, urged the staff of the bank and the public to put God first in everything.
He took the sermon from Mathew 5:21-37 and Deuteronomy 30:15-20, urging the public to be obedient to the word of God.
He emphasised that all power belonged to God and that it took obedience of the command of God to realise the desires of man.