Juansa (Ash), Oct. 29, GNA - Rural banks have been urged to embark on organizational restructuring and effective credit administration in order to meet the challenges of the complex and sophisticated business environment.

They should also undertake research to develop commission-based products to boost their incomes in view of the downward trend of interest rates as a result of the improvement in the country's economy. Mr Kenneth Owusu Twumasi, Head, human resource and administration of the ARP Apex bank, made the call at the 18th annual general meeting of the Asante Akim rural bank at Juansa on Friday. He said rural banks needed an efficient and effective management to harness the resources in their environment.

Mr Twumasi said persons appointed to serve on the boards and management of rural banks should have requisite academic and moral background to meet the challenges peculiar to the banking industry. He commended the bank for its impressive performance and urged the share holders to give the necessary support to the board to enable it perform their duties efficiently.

Mr Francis Opuni Sekyere, chairman of the board of directors, said the bank's profit increased from 828.8 million cedis to 993.2 in 2004. He said the bank mobilized a total deposit of 17.6 billion cedis as against 12.8 billion cedis in 2003, while its total assets grew by 30 percent from 19.8 billion in 2003 to 25.8 billion cedis in 2004. Mr Sekyere appealed to the shareholders to buy more shares to increase the capital base of the bank.