NAARA RURAL BANK EXCEEDS B.O.G CAPITAL REQUIREMENT 29th February, 2020

The Naara Rural Bank [NRB] Ltd., established in 1981 in Paga in the Kassena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region, has exceeded the Bank of Ghana’s 1,000,000.00 Ghana Cedi Minimum Capital Requirement by a little over an extra one million Ghana Cedis. The Bank of Ghana is mandated under the Banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions Act - Act 930, 2016 to fix a minimum capital requirement at stipulated time frames for banks operating in the country.

 

Mr. Robert Simple Atiiru, the Board Chairman giving hid report

 
Board Chairman of the bank, Mr. Robert Simple Atiiru in his report at the 29^th Annual General Meeting held in Navrongo over the weekend, disclosed this enviable feat chalked by the bank. In the report spanning the period 2017-2018, he stated this with joy, “distinguished shareholders, our bank ended the year with the Stated Capital of 2,067,736.00 Ghana Cedis which exceeded the threshold of the minimum capital requirement of GHC1,000,000.00 set for Rural and Community Banks”. He gave special commendation to the management and staff of the bank for their relentless efforts in improving the bank’s financial indices and making it more attractive for business.

Mr. Atiiru said the NRB Ltd. also performed creditably in other areas including its Total Assets appreciating from 34,412,787.00 in 2017 to 39,999,154.00 by end of year 2018. Meanwhile, its Deposits also shot up to GHC32,745,555.00 in 2018 from the previous year’s figure of GHC28,361,645.00. The bank’s Net Worth also rose from GHC4,649,909.00 in 2017 to GHC5,347,797.00 by the close of 2018. It was however the Net Profit after-Tax that dipped from 804,495.00 Ghana Cedis in 2017 to 493,665.00 Ghana Cedis in 2018.

The Naara Child-Centred Account - NCETA

On the loans portfolio of the bank, he noted that though there was an increase by 11.1 percent between December 2017 and December 2018, a total loan balance of 16,951,095.00 Ghana Cedis, represented 44.40 percent of the bank’s total assets of 39,999,095.00 Ghana Cedis. He said the bank had contracted a debt collection specialist known as Advanced Debt Recovery Ghana, to help in the aggressive pursuit of loan defaulters while other methods such as publication of debtors’ names in the dailies and on FM Stations, was also being considered as a means of persuading debtors to honour their obligations to the bank.

The Board Chairman observed that this notwithstanding, the NRB Ltd. had received some positive ratings as it earned a satisfactory rating from the Bank of Ghana whilst it got a 1^st position ranking among sister banks in the Northern Rural and Community Banks family in terms of Total Assets, Deposits, Net Worth, Profitability as well as in Loans and Advances. Also, of the total 144 rural and community banks licensed in Ghana, the Naara Rural Bank is ranked the 34^th.

A Section of Shareholders at the AGM

  

Mr. Atiiru also used the occasion to send a passionate appeal to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, to intervene in reversing the current Corporate Tax of 25 percent to the previous peg of eight percent since it was negatively impacting the operations of rural and community banks throughout the country.

He revealed that the bank had a staff strength of 63 working across some seven branches in the Upper East Region, the widest coverage by far and that, it tries all its best to ensure they were well-catered for in order to continue to deliver their best on the job. He added that, the NRB was a bank very mindful of the needs of its operational communities and has in that regard spent an amount of 23,150.00 Ghana Cedis on corporate social responsibility activities. GHC8,400.00 of the amount went into education, GHC10,860.00 into health and GHC4,690.00 was spent in helping out the agriculture sector.

Upper East Regional Minister Hon. Tangoba Abayage in her keynote address at the AGM, described the bank as a very able partner that assisted government in the effective disbursement of funds to beneficiaries of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty [LEAP] through the Ezwich payments platform. She also noted that the bank’s existence through the decades had brought banking closer to the rural people and had also made loan facilities accessible to them thus enhancing economic activities in the area.

Hon. Tangoba, Guest Of Honour at the AGM

Hon. Tangoba observed that Naara Bank and other sister rural/community banks were strategically placed institutions in the implementation of government’s interventions such as the “Planting for Food and Jobs Programme”, “Rearing for Food and Jobs” and “One-Village One Dam” among others.

Meanwhile earlier in his welcome address, General Manager of the bank Mr. Samuel Namoog, disclosed that in line with the five-year strategic plan to increase deposits, the bank was about the only bank in the region to have extended its branches to five of the 15 municipalities and districts. He also announced the roll out of novelty account christened the Naara Child Education Trust Account [NCETA] which invites parents and guardians to save regularly for their children’s future educational expenses and academic well-being.