The Asutifi Rural Bank Plc at Acherensua in the Asutifi South District of Ahafo Region has posted a remarkable growth in almost all financial indicators in the 2023 year under review.
The Bank recorded profit before tax of approximately GH¢1million in the year under the review as against a little over GH¢288,000 in the previous year representing 265.99% growth whereas total assets stood at approximately GH¢29.9 million as against a little over GH¢22.7million in 2022 at 31.42% growth.
The Bank’s total deposit grew from approximately GH¢20.6million in 2022 to a little over GH¢26.9 million in 2023, representing a satisfactory growth of 30.42% .
The Chairman of the Board of Directors Kwasi Aduse-Poku announced these and more at the Bank’s 35th Annual General Meeting of shareholders held last Sunday at Acherensua.
Operational Environment
According to him, Ghana’s economy had its share from the impact of the happenings in the global economic hit. With all these happenings, Ghana was able to make some gains in its economic conditions all year out in 2023 while the challenges persistently remained, characterized notably by restrained growth, sizeable pressure on debt sustainability and public finance, and inflation having its worst share.
The result of these trends showed in limited domestic financing options, restricted access to international markets, and rising reliance on monetary measures to support government expenditures.
Monetary policy remained appropriately tight, allowing for inflation to decline rapidly. Headline inflation saw a significant decline from 53.6 percent in January 2023 to 23.2 percent as at end of year 2023, and it was projected to ease further upon continued implementation of sound macroeconomics policies.
The Ghanaian cedi on the currency front remained relatively stable throughout the year 2023. This was hinged on inflows from IMF extended credit facility, the domestic gold purchase programme, remittances, and forex purchases from mining and oil companies, amid monetary policy tightening.
Operational Performance
In spite of the unfavourable macroeconomic environment in which the bank operated during the reviewed year, the bank managed to pull a satisfactory operational performance in almost all the financial indicators as shown in the table.
| ITEM | 2022 | 2023 | % Change.
|
| Total Assets | 22,798,955. 00 | 29,953,600.00 | 31.42
|
| Stated Capital | 915,988. 00 | 915,988.00 | –
|
| Loans and Advances. | 11,235,502. 00 | 14,213,826.00 | 29.11
|
| Investment | 5,291,166. 00 | 8,243,829.00 | 50.12
|
| Deposit | 20,662,058. 00 | 26,961,754.00 | 30.49
|
| Net Worth | (169,680 .00) | 544,189.00 | 420.71
|
| Profit/Loss Before Tax | 288,108. 00 | 1,056,441.00 | 265.99
|
| Profit/Loss After Tax. | 288,108. 00 | 713,869. 00 | 147.77
|
Stated Capital
The Bank had met the minimum capital threshold requirement. All the pledges made at last year’s AGM in connection with share purchases have been redeemed, pushing the bank’s stated capital to Gh¢1,227,168.16 currently. However, due to the Bank’s minimal Net Worth, the Board has called upon existing shareholders to inject more capital into the bank to help address the Capital Adequacy Challenge, enhance business dealing capacity and take advantage of opportunities available to the Bank while preserving its core strengths
E- Banking.
The bank is taking its banking services closer to the doorstep of customers and has rolled out e-banking services, an initiative of the Ghana Financial Sector Development Project under the Ministry of Finance which ARB Apex Bank is fronting for Rural and Community Banks which includes Agency Banking, USSD (Mobile) Banking etc.
Asutifi Rural Bank Plc has started the USSD banking which runs on the short code *992# with functionalities such as balance enquiry, mini statement requests, funds transfers, account to wallet transfers, wallet to account transfers, bill payments, among others.
The Board Chairman, took the opportunity of the occasion and commended the Management and staff of the Bank for a good work done and encouraged them to do more.
He promised that the mutual co-operation between the Board and Management will be strengthened and the necessary resources needed by Management to perform as expected required of them will be provided to enable the Bank realize its vision.
