ARB Bank re-lannches news letter

THE Association of Rural Banks in Ghana (ARB) has re-launched its news letter "The ARB News" to redeem and enhance the corporate image of rural banks from recent negative media publicity.
The Board Chairman of ARB Apex Bank, Dr Sam Dufu therefore entreated the media to make reference to the publication when in need of basic facts concerning rural banking and help promote the activities and services of rural banks in the country.
The General Manager of Graphic Communications Group Limited, Mr Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh challenged the association to accelerate the modernisation and computerisation of the rural banks in the country.
"After 27 years of existence, it means you have the capacity to grow" he noted and advised the association on the need to merge all rural banks in Ghana to fight the increasing competition in the financial industry.
Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh who officially re-launched the news letter stated that most of the items in the publication were intended to promote the worth of patronising the services of rural banks but pointed out that the publication had limited circulation because it was more of an internal publication.
"It is important that you tell your own stories so that when journalists read the letter they might refer to it in their publication" he stated hoping that the publication would survive this time around.
The Acting President of the association, Mrs Rose Newman said the introduction of the rural banking concept in 1976 with the establishment of the first rural bank at Nyakrom in the Central Region had turned out to be a very successful novelty in the contemporary banking industry.
"The Association of Rural Banks in Ghana was formed in 1981 with 31 rural banks. Today, it is a remarkable fact that there are as many as 127 rural banks in operation throughout the country and some communities benefit from the services offered by the agency network of some of these banks" she stated noting that there were prospects for the establishment of more rural banks especially in the three northern regions.
She commended the Bank of Ghana's policy on the operations of rural banks in Ghana stating that "the Policy stance of Bank of Ghana was an institutional approach towards filling the wide gap of banking services that existed between the urban and rural communities".
Mrs Newman acknowledged the fact that the rapid growth of rural banks was accompanied by a number of challenges which were in two folds namely the external environment and the managerial and operational problems.
She explained that the association assisted the rural banks to overcome the challenges and some of the steps it took included the strengthening of internal of internal control systems of rural banks as well as training of their staffs.
She said the association as the parent organisation in collaboration with the ARB APEX Bank Limited had mounted programmes to educate rural banks to consider new products and services in order to mobilise more deposits for productive investment.
"The association with the support of Donor Agencies continues to assist the rural banks to specialise in micro-finance activities in order to deliver the required financial products tailored to meet the needs of the micro entrepreneurs" she added.
Despite the progress chalked by the rural banks, she alleged that there were still room for improvement to meet the challenges of a dynamic and increasingly competitive financial services industry.