Zebilla (U/E), March 12, GNA - The first bank in the Bawku West District, Toende Rural Bank, was on Tuesday opened to business at Zebilla, the District capital.

Plans to establish the bank dates back to the early 1990s when a group of concerned citizens of the area, the Toende Development Club, took the initiative to ensure that the area gets its own bank to relieve the people from inconveniences involved in travelling to Bolgatanga and Bawku for banking services.

Mr. Moses Abaare Appiah, District Chief Executive (DCE), in an address to open the Bank, said after almost a decade of persistent determination, the desire of the people to have a bank established in the district has been achieved in spite of the bottlenecks that beset the process originally.

He noted that with its policy of "golden age of business", the government played a significant role in ensuring that the creation of the bank came into fruition by eliminating all the stumbling blocks that impeded progress in establishing the bank.

The DCE said a key component in every successful private sector-led economy is the establishment of vibrant financial institutions to mobilize reserve capital and, in so doing, offer credit at fovourable terms to the people.

"It was therefore a matter of course for us when we assumed office to continue with the fight for the Rural Bank, apparently because of the conducive business environment we have created".

Mr Appiah said the Assembly had to take certain bold steps in pursuit of the desire of the people to have a bank, adding that one of the challenging tasks was raising of the threshold share capital to pre-qualify for the facility.

He added that the Vice President's intervention in explaining the level of deprivation of the area to officials of the Bank of Ghana contributed to the successful establishment of the bank.

He said the Assembly is the majority shareholder of the bank with a share capital of about 408 million cedis. It also provided all the infrastructural requirements of the bank and converted it into shares. The DCE called on the people to patronize the services of the bank and help nurture it to grow, adding that measures would be taken to ensure that the capital outlay of the bank is increased and to link it up with partner agencies for assistance.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank, The Very Reverend Jacob Ayeebo, said the bank has received 122 million cedis from an organization in Belgium to disburse as loans to small-scale farmers within the bank's catchment area.

He was optimistic that the bank would facilitate the speedy development of the area and called on the people to avoid the risks involved in going to do business with banks in other districts.