Ga Rural Bank makes giant strides despite effects of COVID-19

The Ga Rural Bank Limited on Saturday held its 29th annual general meeting in Accra which brought together directors, staff and shareholders of the bank to deliberate on its operations. Speaking at the meeting, the Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the bank, Mr Peter Allotey Acquaye, said the meeting was to report shareholders and discuss the 2020 financial year and the way forward. He said despite the devastating effects of COVID-19 pandemic, the bank made tremendous strides and recorded strong results for the 2020 financial year. “We passed the milestone of GHC 70 million in total assets ending the financial year with assets of GHC 70.866 million, up by 33.74 per cent on the previous year,” he said. “Our after tax profit of GHC 240,052 was 32.57 per cent higher than the record profit achieved in
the previous year. Similarly, our deposit of GHC63.919 million was also 34.55 per cent higher than 2019,” he added. Mr Acquaye said the bank had the mandate of creating sustainable value for shareholders which was pivotal for its clear and con
sistent strategy of being a leading rural bank in the country. He said the bank had set out to digitalise its operations to ensure that it served the increasing number of existing and potential customers through the provision of excellent services.
The Chairman of the bank’s Board of Directors, Nana Bram Okae II, in his statement said the period under review was a very challenging because of the daunting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. To this end, he said the bank
engaged customers in the hard hit sectors of the economy and supported them with soft loans. “We restructured loans and overdrafts to schools and churches which were hard hit and also waived some interest, as well as penal charges to enable them to fulfil their repayment obligation,” he added. He noted that the banking industry was still liquid, well capitalised, positioned to protect depositors’ funds, improve credibility and support economic growth. Nana Okae II said the bank was this year focusing on strategies aimed at increasing deposit base by strengthening mobilisation drive and leveraging its innovative mobile money application known as the “GA-CONNECT” to improve customer experience. He expressed the bank’s gratitude to shareholders, directors, management and staff of the bank for the immeasurable roles they played to support the bank, adding that “I am glad to have served with you all.”

BY ABIGAIL ARTHUR