The Apex Bank, together with General Managers and CEOs of all rural community banks in the country, is gearing up for the annual managers’ conference scheduled for October 7 to 10 at the Rock City Hotel at Nkwatia in the Eastern.
This year’s conference is the twentieth in the series and on the theme ‘Rural Banking beyond Financial Sector Reforms and the COVID-19 Pandemic.’
This year’s conference, as usual, will bring together general managers and chief executive officers of the rural and community banks with the primary focus of discussing the current happenings and some challenges in the rural banking sector, and to proffer solutions for them.
This year’s conference with be chaired by Daasebre Akuamoah Agyapong II, Omanhene and President of Kwahu Traditional Council.
It is expected that organisers of the conference will bring on board a rich pool of consultants, who will be taking the managers through carefully selected topics as part of the conference’s major activities.
The topics, as well as the consultants, are always strategically selected to help equip managers with contemporary strategies to effectively tackle emerging issues in their daily operational activities in banking.
In the course of the conference, the managers will be concentrating their energies on treating topics like: Transitioning from brick and mortar to alternative channel delivery; Embedding Risk Management in RCBs; Building Resilience in Times of Uncertainty; Deposit Mobilisation Strategies and Specie movement in Rural Banking; and Enhancing Access to Finance for Rural Development among other timely topics to be presented.
It is also expected that the of Bank of Ghana Governor or his representative will make a regulatory pronouncement that may seek to collaborate with the Apex Bank on repositioning the rural banks for effective operational service delivery.
The participants will be looking forward to an update on the banking industry and make time to look at matters arising from the communique issued in the 2020 conference, held at Ho.
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.
Rural and Community Banks 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.
