Dr Asomaning said during the bank’s 8th Annual General Meeting which also marked the 10th Anniversary of the bank.He said total deposits increased from GHC 2,364,011 to GHC 5,740,304 with a percentage growth of 170 while loans and advances went up from GHC 1,277,008 to GHC 3,944,908 which stood at 209 per cent during the period.

Dr Asomaning said judging by the figures for 2017 “we are confident that we will attain the ten million Ghana cedis deposit mark in the very near future.”He said the Credit Recovery Unit of the bank was making headway in the loan recovery as the total assets grew from GHC 2,752,140 to GHC 7,450,330.

He said the bank also acquired an additional pickup truck, upgraded computers and renovated the offices of the bank.The Chairman said the shareholders fund went up from GHC 347,809 to 1,478,949 and paid-up capital increased from GHC 197,545 to GHC 522,604 during the four years, adding that this was due to the bank’s intensive drive to meet the Bank of Ghana’s capital requirement by the end of 2017.

He said: “We can faithfully report that as at August 2017, we have raised the capital to GHC 918,204. We thank all shareholders both new and old who have bought shares during this drive.”He said the bank still needed GHC 81,796 to meet the requirement and appealed to the shareholders and the public to buy more shares to help move the bank forward.

Dr Asomaning said the Efficiency Monitoring Unit of the ARB Apex Bank has ranked the Citizens Rural Bank as strong in the past five years.“At the most recent ARB Awards Night the bank was chosen as the best rural bank in mobilization. This shows that the bank has been well managed and has been making good progress,” he said.

The bank has opened mobilization centres at Adeiso, Kotoku and Pakro.

Dr Asomaning commended the Board, the Management and the staff of the bank for the remarkable performance over the years while expressing gratitude to the Bank of Ghana, Apex Bank and the Association of Rural Banks for their support.