The ARB Apex Bank, together with Chief Executive officers of all rural community banks in the country, is gearing up for the annual managers’ conference scheduled for October 13 at the Volta Serene Hotel in Ho of the Volta Region.
This year’s conference is the twenty-first in the series and is on the theme ‘Positioning Rural Banking at the Centre of Financial Services Delivery in Ghana – the Role of Stakeholders’.
This year’s conference, as usual, will bring together chief executive officers of the rural and community banks with a primary focus on discussing the current happenings and some challenges in the rural banking sector, and to proffer solutions for them.
It is expected that organisers of the conference will bring on board a rich pool of consultants, who will be taking the CEOs through carefully selected topics as part of the major activities.
The topics, as well as the consultants, are always strategically selected to help equip CEOs with contemporary strategies to effectively tackle emerging issues in their daily operational activities in banking.
During the conference, CEOs will concentrate their energies on treating topics like: Understanding Gender-based Violence and Harassment in the Workplace; How to Manage a Model RCB; An Efficient Regulatory Environment as a Catalyst to the Growth of RCBs; and Positioning GhanaPay as well as Matters Arising from the 20th CEOs’ Conference, among other timely topics to be presented.
It is also expected that the 2nd Deputy Governor-Bank of Ghana, Mrs. Elsie Addo Awadzi who is the guest speaker of this year’s conference, will make a regulatory pronouncement that may seek to collaborate with the Apex Bank on repositioning rural banks for effective operational service delivery.
Other personalities to make presentations on various topics may include, Mr. Yaw Sapong, Head-OFISD, Bank of Ghana; Archie Hesse, CEO-GhIPSS; Elder Dr. Stephen Sarfo Kantanka, immediate past CEO-Atwima Kwanwoma Rural Bank Limited; and Alhaji Hayatudeen Awudu Ibrahim, President-National Association of RCB CEOs.
The participants are looking forward to an update on the banking industry and making time to look at matters arising from the communique issued in the 2021 conference, held in Kwahu – Nkwatia in the Eatern Region.
Rural and community banks have a key role in making a positive contribution toward the reduction of poverty. They also act as one of the key channels for distributing funds to businesses in their localities, and encouraging the spread of sound entrepreneurial activity.
It is also believed that rural and community banks can provide an additional channel to deliver essential financial services. They also play a key role in the country’s economic development, and ultimately act as a catalyst to stimulate the rural economy by supporting micro and SME businesses based in rural areas.
This initiative can contribute to poverty reduction and help in bridging the gap between urban areas and the rural economy.
