Ho, April 23, GNA - Mr Robert L Quarshie, Senior Manager, Agave Rural Bank has deplored the lukewarm attitude of managements of Rural Banks in the Volta Region to staff training.

He was presenting a report of the performance of Rural Banks in the Region at the 4th Manager's Conference of the ARB Apex Bank Limited and Rural and Community Banks in Ho at the weekend.

Mr Quarshie said the banks needed well-trained and motivated staff to enable them to improve efficiency at all levels.

He said the performance of the nine rural banks in the Region was satisfactory but listed apathy of shareholders, poor attendance at training sessions and the late submission of quarterly reports by managers as drawbacks.

Mr Quarshie said the Serious Fraud Office was investigating a massive fraud at the Agave Bank involving 800 million cedis. He announced that all the banks had established separate Micro-Finance Desks to enable them to evaluate the performance of that sector in the area.

Mr Quarshie complained that the unavailability of telecommunication facilities was impacting negatively on the performance of the banks.