The Kumawuman Rural Bank Limited at Kumawu in the Sekyere Afram Plains district of Ashanti Region is set to rollout hybrid Automated Teller Machine (ATM) services at some of its branches.
This is in fulfillment of government’s rural branchless banking project, and the bank has completed all documentations and signed the mandatory agreement with the Bank of Ghana under the German KfW project and GHIPSS, and is expected to be operational by the end of the year 2017.
The branded ATMs are e-zwich, visa, gh-link etc.-enabled, which will allow cardholders to perform banking and retail transactions at the outlets of other universal banks.
The bank will also introduce e-banking services such as Internet banking and mobile banking to transform the customers’ banking experience – from branch banking to “anytime, anywhere” banking.
The bank is currently leveraging the available technology to introduce several variants of products and new e-banking to meet the diverse needs of its cherished customers.
These and more were contained in a report delivered on behalf of Chairman of the Board of Directors, Dr. Kwabena Duffour, by the bank’s General Manager Emmanuel Takyi Ankra at the its 24th Annual General Meeting of shareholders held last Thursday at the Presbyterian Church at Kumawu in Ashanti.
According to him, the bank operated in a challenging economic environment – largely due to higher inflation and higher operational cost. However, the bank made some satisfactory progress in its performance.
In spite of the many challenges faced by the Board of Directors and Management, they worked hard during the year under review to raise Total Assets, Deposits, Paid-up Capital, Loans and Advances, Portfolio – but a registered very marginal drop in the Profits before Tax as shown in the table.
| Indicators | 2016 | 2015 |
| GH¢ | GH¢ | |
| Total Income | 9,203,271 | 8,652,730 |
| Operating Expenses | 7,777,503 | 7,352,128 |
| Profit Before Tax | 1,010,126 | 1,069,074 |
| Deposits | 47,898,871 | 38,204,946 |
| Loans & Advances | 16,295,617 | 16,286,419 |
| Investments | 23,016,167 | 15,789,411 |
| Total Assets | 56,614,407 | 46,802,574 |
| Stated Capital | 2,248,562 | 2,224,327 |
| Income Surplus | 1,632,137 | 1,582,111 |
| Shareholders’ Funds | 6,159,813 | 6,103,018 |
The bank’s Directors have recommended a dividend payment of GHp3 per share for 2016 year under review. The total dividend proposed is GH¢251,236 as against GH¢ GH¢249,403 paid in 2015.
In the 2016 year under review, the bank voted a total amount of GH¢32,760 for its corporate social responsibility activities; and further focused its efforts on education by spending an amount of GH¢20,000 on scholarships for students who hail from its operational territories and are children of the bank’s shareholders pursuing various courses of study in secondary and tertiary institutions.
The Ashanti Regional Manager of ARB Apex Bank, Mr. George Annor, on behalf of the Managing Director Mr. Kojo Mattah congratulated the bank for its tremendous operational performance over the years.
He advised the Board and Management to institute a risk-management policy to identify, assess, monitor and control risks, since the banking business has become very competitive and risky.
In conclusion the Board Chairman expressed his profound gratitude to all major stakeholders, such as the chiefs and people within the bank’s operational areas; the Bank of Ghana, ARB Apex Bank, and the Association of Rural Banks for their continuous support.
