All the operational indicators of the bank showed positive growth and was rated strong by the Efficiency Monitoring Unit and placed fourth out of the 144 Rural and Community Banks in the country, the rankings of the ARB Apex Bank Limited revealed.
Mrs Akanbangbiem Agamu Asokea, the Board Chairman of the Bank, who said this at the 21th Annual General Meeting of the bank held at Sandema, the Builsa North Municipality of the Upper East Region attributed the performance to prudent liquidity management by the Board and Management of the bank, who introduced effective cost reduction strategy and enhanced operational efficiency to counter the shortfalls.
Mrs Asokea said aside the COVID-19 pandemic, the banking clean-up exercise saw an amount of GH¢4.8 million of the Bank locked up at Gold Coast Fund Management limited, but there was significant positive growth recorded.
She said despite the challenges, the bank recorded a stated capital of GH¢1.6 million at the end of 2020, which exceeded the GH¢1 million set for the rural and community banks by the Bank of Ghana.
At the same time, the total deposits of the bank increased from GH¢27.7 million in 2019 to GH¢35.2 million in 2020, representing 26.9 percent, its total assets also increased from GH¢36 million in 2019 to GH¢46.2 million in 2020, representing 28.52 percent, she added.
She said the short-term investments of the bank also increased from GH¢12.7 million to GH¢18 million, representing 41.08 percent, while the Net Worth shot up to GH¢4.4 million from GH¢3.6 million, representing 23.39 percent.
Loans and Advances, and Pre-Tax Profits saw marginal improvements from GH¢16.5 million to GH¢16.6 million, representing 0.67 percent and from GH¢921, 748.00 to GH¢966,239.00, representing 4.83 percent respectively.
In terms of corporate social responsibility, Mrs Asokea revealed that the bank spent GH¢35,191.00 on education, agriculture, healthcare, culture, sports and environment in all its operational areas.
Mrs Asokea said the board and management of the bank would continue to churn out strategies that would make the bank grow, protect depositors’ funds and maximize shareholder value.
“The Bank will also continue to invest in the productive sector of the local economy to improve on the livelihoods of our people.
“We shall continue to participate and support government flagship programmes such as; planting for Food and Jobs, Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty, Ghana Productive Safety Net Project and the Biometric System in the years ahead,” she added.
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