Okomfo Anokye Rural Bank PLC at Wiamoase in the Sekyere South District of Ashanti Region, during this year’s review records a magnificent growth from its loss in the previous years.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors, Kennedy Obiri Yeboah, during the bank’s 35th Annual General Meeting of shareholders at the Salvation Army Church Auditorium disclosed the bank’s bent on effort to put it back on the path of growth and profitability in all indicators.
According to Mr. Obiri Yeboah, the bank recorded a profit before tax of approximately GH¢1.33million in the 2021 year under review from a loss of about GH¢154,320 in the previous year, representing an impressive growth of 961.45%.
“This is an unprecedented profit before tax, and this is the first time the bank has crossed GH¢1million profit in its history.”
Mr. Kennedy Obiri Yeboah
Despite the macro-economic challenges, the bank bounced back to its feet on a path of profitability as a result of prudent measures by the directors and management to compete favourably with other rural banks to satisfy shareholders’ expectations, he said.
“The bank achieved this feat after devising an operational strategy for growth, recovering overdue loans to control the wearing-away of profit by highly expected credit loss as part of the growth strategies.
“The board and management spared no effort to improve the loan quality portfolio of the bank, which in turn boosted its profitability and reduced expected credit loss.”
Kennedy Obiri Yeboah
Mr. Obiri Yeboah further communicated that, the bank’s deposit grew by 14.12% from GH¢81.9million in 2020 to GH¢93.4million in 2021.
“The achievement was as a result of hard work and dedication of management and staff of the bank as various deposit mobilization strategies were embarked upon during the year.”
Kennedy Obiri Yeboah
ARB Apex Bank Plc Rates Okomfo Anokye Rural Bank As ‘Strong’
The Efficiency Monitoring Unit of the ARB Apex Bank Plc rated Okomfo Anokye Rural Bank PLC as ‘strong’ for the first and second quarters of 2022. This was the first time in the history of the bank to attain this feat. The bank took the 32nd position out of the 145 RCBs in 2nd quarter of 2022.
Mr. Kennedy Obiri Yeboah indicated the foreign exchange reserves of the bank to have increased from US$8.6million in December 2020 to US$9.7million in December 2021.
The Ghana cedi depreciated further against the dollar in 2021 by 4.1% after 3.9% in 2020, both years due to foreign exchange demand – supply mismatches, he said.
According to him, the banking sector remained strong in 2021 with a capital-adequacy ratio of 20.8% at the end of June 2021, nearly double the regulatory minimum of 11.5%. Poverty declined from 12% in 2020 to 11% in 2021, given GDP per capita growth of 2.3% from a contraction of 1.7% in 2020.
However, unemployment increased by 2.3 percentage points to 13.4% in 2015 to 2021. The country has committed the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) allocation of US$1billion to finance the 2022 budget deficit, he added.
Mr. Obiri Yeboah Board stipulated the bank’s non- dividend payment for the 2021 financial year based on the Bank of Ghana’s Directives.
He also mentioned the bank’s continued effort in offering assistance to communities and institutions within its catchment areas in terms of community development projects.
Paul Kwabena Oduro, the Chief Executive Officer of Okomfo Anokye Rural Bank PLC in an interview said that, Management would continue to seek ways of strengthening and developing the bank’s operations to maintain the confidence that customers and shareholders have in the bank.
“The bank’s business model is still tailored for the Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSME’s), and would push for more market penetration as we develop new, innovative products and trusted relationships with clients of the bank.”
Paul Kwabena Oduro
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