DERMA RURAL BANK DESIGNS NEW PRODUCT (PAGE 23)

THE Board of Directors of the Derma Area Rural Bank Limited in the Brong Ahafo Region has designed a product for farmers within its catchment area.
As part of the product, a group of farmers who open a joint saving account with the bank would secure loans from the bank, with their savings automatically serving as collateral for them.
For such farmers, the bank would also not require salary earners to stand as guarantors when they apply for a loan facility.
With regard to salaried workers, another product termed “credit line” has been designed by the board for them to secure loans without much stress.
The two products would be operational by September, this year.
The Chairman of the board, Mr G. Amano-Kyeremeh, announced this at the 21st annual general meeting (AGM) of the bank at Derma near Bechem.
He appealed to all manner of people in the catchment area, especially farmers, to save with the bank so that in times of need they would be supported by the bank.
The board chairman stated that the bank posted a net profit of GH¢80,624.22 after expenses and reducing the accumulated loss of GH¢142,367.10 in 2006 to GH¢71,820.90 in 2007.
He further indicated that the bank’s total assets increased from GH¢1,077,795.20 in 2006 to GH¢1,436,752.48 in 2007, representing two per cent over the previous year’s.
According to Mr Amano-Kyeremeh, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) now required all rural and community banks to increase their share capital to at least GH¢150,000.
He therefore stated that with the bank’s current shareholding of GH¢53,950.87, there was the need to inject GH¢96,049.13 as additional share capital to meet the BoG’s requirement.
He, therefore, urged all shareholders to buy at least two times the quantity of shares they already had.
Mr Amano-Kyeremeh stated that the bank had started to computerise its operations to enable it to operate the e-zwich system introduced by the BoG.
He said when completed, any customer could access his or her money at any point of sale terminal at any part of the country and could also receive payments from traders who had the e-zwich card.
The board chairman advised the shareholders to desist from writing anonymous letters about members of the board.
He stated that in today’s competitive banking environment, any evil report that anyone maliciously smeared on the bank might have serious consequences on its operations.
“Customers might not want to do business with the bank while depositors would refuse to put their monies in the bank and that the fortunes of the bank will be doomed for ever if such a situation occurs,” Mr Amano-Kyeremeh stressed.
The Managing Director of the ARB Apex Bank, Mr Eric Osei-Bonsu, in a speech read on his behalf noted that the performance of most RCBs had been very encouraging, as they had consistently registered impressive deposit mobilisation and increases in share capital, which were indications of growing public confidence in the rural banking system.
He said despite the achievements, rural banks still had a lot more to do by way of effective credit administration, cost control and reduction so as to meet the challenges of the changing competitive business environment.
According to Mr Osei-Bonsu, the rural banks still continued to perform the crucial function of moral financial inter-mediation that would lead to economic, as well as social development and transformation.
He added that rural banks, therefore, needed the continuous support from the shareholders, the regulatory authorities and the general public.
The District Chief Executive (DCE) of Tano South, Mr Osei Sekyere Bota, stated that the establishment of the bank was a huge legacy for the people in the district and beyond so everyone ought to show concern about its growth rather than resorting to writing anonymous letters about members of the board of directors.
The Omanhene of Bechem Traditional Area, Nana Fosu Gyeabour II, urged the shareholders to appoint people with the requisite knowledge about banking as directors of the bank but not people with unscrupulous and suspicious characters.