Odotobri Rural Bank Limited at Jacobu in the Amansie Central district of Ashanti Region, having made strenuous efforts to put the bank back on the path of growth and profitability, has recorded impressive growth in all indicators.
The bank recorded a profit before tax of approximately GH¢4million in the 2021 year under review, from a loss of about GH¢2.1million in the previous year – representing an impressive growth of 192.9%.
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 strategy.
The board and management spared no effort to improve the bank’s loan portfolio quality, which in turn boosted its profitability and reduced expected credit loss.
What cemented this great achievement was the set-up of a recovery unit under the credit department to spearhead the bank’s credit recoveries to help improve loan portfolio quality coupled with staff motivation.
Dividend
The bank over the past two years has not paid dividend to shareholders, following the Bank of Ghana’s directive for non-payment of dividend in the 2019 and 2020 financial years. The Bank of Ghana, after assessing the bank’s performance, has approved its board’s request to pay dividend for the year under review.
The Board of Directors subsequently recommended 20% of profit after tax as dividend for the year ending 31st December 2021 to members, which translates into an absolute figure of GH¢385,633 and dividend per share of GH¢0.0012.
The Chairperson-Board of Directors, Mrs. Georgina Addea, announced these and more at the bank’s 35th Annual General Meeting of shareholders held recently at the Nana Adu Darko Community Centre in Jacobu of Ashanti Region.
Operational Environment
According to her, Ghana continued to suffer from the impact of COVID-19 pandemic in the 2021 financial year – as well from the pandemic’s peak in the previous year.
According to Ghana Statistical Services, real GDP expanded by 7.0% in the first quarter of 2021 compared to 4.3% growth recorded in the corresponding period of 2020.
On an annual basis, the real GDP growth for 2021 showed a positive outturn of 5.4% – exceeding the 4.4% 2021 projected by 1 percentage point and the average growth by 0.9 percentage point.
The year 2021 continued to experience a decline of interest rates in the financial landscape, particularly in the primary and secondary market.
Operational Performance
In spite of the unfavourable macroeconomic environment in which the bank operated during the 2021 reviewed year, it managed to pull yet another remarkable operational performance in all financial indicators as shown in the table.
|
Indicators |
2021
Amount (GH¢) |
2020
Amount (GH¢) |
% Change |
| Deposits | 203,409,727.00 | 186,315,377.00 | 9.17 |
| Investments | 137,694,073.00 | 125,544.478.00 | 9.68 |
| Advances | 44,265,527.00 | 39,699,398.00 | 11.50 |
| Total Assets | 229,529,839.00 | 209,045,677.00 | 9.80 |
| Share Capital | 2,995,461.00 | 2,976.911.00 | 0.62 |
| Profit before Tax | 4,048,153.00 | (2,098,806.00) | 192.9 |
Corporate Social Responsibilities
The bank continues to offer assistance for communities and institutions within its catchment areas in terms of community development projects. In the year under review, the bank spent an amount of GH¢102,729 on corporate social responsibility activities toward the stakeholders – with special focus on Education, Health and Security among others.
ARB Apex Bank Commendation
In an address delivered on behalf of Alex Kwasi Awuah – Managing Director-ARB Apex Bank PLC, by Curtis Brentuo, the Ag Deputy Managing Director-ARB Apex Bank, he commended the bank’s sterling operational performance.
He specifically mentioned the impressive percentage growth in profit recorded during the reviewed year, and described it as commendable.
He however mentioned that given the assets at the bank’s disposal, it is expected that it will put up an even better performance in the future. He encouraged the bank’s directors and management to devise more aggressive outreach programmes, especially around these times when competition in the rural banking sector is becoming keener.
These outreach programmes, according to him, should include strategies targetted at bankable medium-, small-, micro- and individual businesses in the communities where the bank operates.
He advised the board to identify and train a young and aggressive sales force that can be deployed in the communities, to sell products and services of the bank to potential and existing customers.
Assurance to intervene for locked up funds
He assured the board and management that ARB Apex Bank and the National Association of Rural Banks will continue working together to impress upon relevant authorities to the need to ensure all locked up funds are released to help inject more liquidity into operations of the bank.
“We are aware that Odotobri Rural Bank still has about GH¢18.82million locked up with about five institutions. We know that this colossal amount, if released, will bring a huge sigh of relief to the bank,” he revealed.
Award – Best Rural Bank in Ashanti
Odotobri Rural Bank was recently presented with the Best Rural Bank in Ashanti award by the Association of Rural Banks at the 4th National Rural Banking awards in Koforidua as part of activities for the 22nd BGM.
Future Outlook
The bank’s CEO, Abraham Coffie, in an interview with Business & Financial Times said management will continue seeking ways of strengthening and developing operations to maintain the confidence of customers and shareholders.
The bank’s business model, according to the CEO, is still tailored for the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, and it will push for more market penetration while developing new, innovative products and trusted relationships with clients.
