ESTABLISH 'MINI' STOCK EXHANGE FOR RURAL BANKS (PAGE 29, OCT 23, 2010)

THE Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Asutifi Rural Bank Limited, Mr Kofi Bonsu Boakye-Boateng has suggested to the ARB Apex Bank Limited to establish what he termed “ a mini Stock Exchange” solely for Rural and Community Banks (RCBs) where the share of these banks could be traded.
That, he said would enable the RCBs to raise the needed capital and also enable non-resident citizens desirous to have some kind of investment back home to own shares in these banks.
Mr Boakye-Boateng made the suggestion at the 22nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the bank at Acherensua in the Asutifi District of the Brong Ahafo Region.
He noted that one area posing a serious challenge to most RCBs was the build-up of the appropriate minimum stated capital level of GH¢150,000 set up by the Bank of Ghana and one of the ways to meet this requirement was the proposed “mini stock exchange” .
Mr Boakye-Boateng further proposed that another way shareholders could help to build share capital for their banks was to publicly convert cash donations and cash gifts at social functions into quantities that are equivalent to ordinary shares for the beneficiary.
Presenting the report of the bank for the year under review, Mr Anthony Yaw Oppong, the Chairman of the Board of Directors, said the bank made profit after tax of Gh¢51,107.73 for the year ended December 31, 2009.
He indicated that the total assets of the bank also increased from GH¢1,299,722.88 in 2008 to GH¢2,121,059.58 in 2009.
Mr Francis Boateng, who deputised for the Managing Director of ARB Apex Bank Limited, Mr Eric Osei Bonsu, commended the bank for its impressive performance over the years.
He advised the board and management of the bank to strive to always improve on services to maintain the ever- growing competition in the banking industry and urged the bank to brace up for the challenge of migrating from manual operation to a computerised environment.
Mr Osei-Bonsu further advised rural banks to keep abreast of issues at the banking front and embrace corporate mergers and commended the Asutifi Rural Bank for including merger talks in its agenda and expressed the hope that it would be among the first rural banks to embrace and take steps to merge with some other rural banks.