Okomfo Anokye Rural Bank gets BoG approval to pay dividend
Okomfo Anokye Rural Bank PLC at Wiamoase in the Sekyere South District of the Ashanti Region has received approval from the Bank of Ghana to pay dividends to their shareholders.
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This is because the bank met all the conditions necessary for the payment of dividends to shareholders in accordance with the law. In view of the above, the Directors of the bank recommend a dividend of GHP0.38 with a total of GH¢ 336,717.07 to all shareholders whose names appeared on the bank's shareholders' register as at December 31, 2022
The central bank gave a directive to all deposit-taking institutions, which includes all rural and community banks, not to pay dividends to their shareholders after the financial sector clean-up exercise, the COVID-19 pandemic and the most recent Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) embarked upon by the government.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors, Emmanuel Owusu Boakye, at the bank’s 36th Annual General Meeting of shareholders held last Friday at Wiamoase in Ashanti, said the bank, having made the effort to put the bank back on the path of growth and profitability, had recorded growth in all indicators in the 2022 Year under review.
The bank recorded a profit before tax of approximately GH¢ 1.9 million in 2022 from about GH¢1.33 in the previous year, representing a growth of 42.57 per cent.
The size of the bank's balance sheet increased by 35.96 per cent from GH¢ 101 million in 2021 to GH¢137 million in 2022.
Fixed assets increased marginally by 0.71 per cent during the year under review from GH¢ 9.1 million in 2021 to GH¢ 9.2 million in 2022.
Deposits of the bank grew by 32.92 per cent from GH¢ 93.4 million in 2021 to GH¢124.2 million in 2022.
Corporate social responsibility
The bank continues to offer assistance to communities and institutions within its catchment areas in terms of community development projects. In the year under review, the bank spent a substantial amount on corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities towards the stakeholders with a special focus on education, health and security, among others.
During the year under review, the bank constructed a 20,000-litre mechanised borehole for the Okomfo Anokye SHS to solve the perennial water problem the school had been facing and other social intervention programmes at the total cost of GH¢108,759 in 2022 as against GH¢ 58,574 spent in 2021.
EMU report
Okomfo Anokye Rural Bank was rated and ranked 6th strong rural bank out of the 145 RCBs in Ghana in the 2023 second quarter RCBs Performance Review by the Efficiency Monitoring Unit (EMU) of the ARB Apex Bank PLC and has been very consistent in its performance since the second quarter of 2022 to date.
The following indicators were used by the ARB Apex Bank PLC to assess the status of the bank, Capital, Asset Quality Ratios, Asset Utilisation Ratios, Profitability Ratios and Liquidity Ratios
Outlook
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the bank, Paul Kwabena Oduro, in an interview with the Daily Graphic, said management would continue to seek ways of strengthening and developing the bank’s operations to maintain the confidence that customers and shareholders had gained in the bank in recent times.
The bank’s business model, according to the CEO, was still tailored for the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and would push for more market penetration as they developed new and innovative products and trusted relationships with clients of the bank.