The North Volta Rural Bank (NVRB) has declared a net profit of GH¢248,372 for the last financial year.
The bank has accordingly paid a total of GH¢50,000 to shareholders against GH¢30,000 paid to them the previous year as dividend.
The chairman of board of directors, Dr Patrick Ata, announced this in an address read on his behalf by a board member, Mr George Donkor, at the 20th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the bank at Guaman.
He said performance indicators revealed that total deposits increased from GH¢4.32 million to GH¢4.71 million in the year under review, while the bank’s investment in treasury bills increased by GH¢50,000.
Dr Ata said the bank met all the three main statutory reserves as required by the Bank of Ghana, adding that the primary reserves were at 21.10 per cent against the requirement of eight per cent; secondary reserves at 37.18 per cent against 30 per cent and capital adequacy of 30.25 per cent as against the 10 per cent required.
He said the bank granted loans and overdrafts to the tune of GH¢4.46 million to a total of 5,883 customers in the fields of agriculture, trading and salaried customers, adding that it showed a growth in the bank’s lending activities.
On corporate social responsibilities, Dr Ata said the bank donated towards the celebration of farmers day in the Jasikan, Kadjebi, Nkwanta and Krachi East districts and had also assisted in building an Information and Communications Technology Centre (ICT) for Guaman Local Authority Junior High School and rehabilitation of the science resource centre of Oti Secondary Technical School at Dambai.
In an address read by the Deputy Head of Human Capital Department, Mrs Francisca Dedei Attipoe, on behalf of the Managing Director of the ARB APEX Bank Limited, Mr Kwadwo Kusi, he commended the management of the bank for the good outturn in a competitive financial market and urged them to be innovative to come out with more products to maintain their position in the market.
He stressed the need for rural banks to embrace customer service as a culture and not as tool for doing business and should gear up for excellence in customer care to enable them withstand the pressure of increasing competition.