The Afram Rural Bank in the Kwahu Afram Plains South District, made a profit before tax of GH¢105,156.00 last year, as against GH¢154,083.00 in 2012.

This represented a decrease of 32 percent due to micro economic environment, coupled with fiscal challenges, such as the depreciation of the cedi and high interest rate.

However, despite the challenges, the bank declared a dividend of 0.003 per share to its shareholders.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mr Emmanuel Augustine Siaw, disclosed this at the 31st Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the bank at Tease.

He said the share capital of the bank rose from GH¢577,299.00 in 2012 to GH¢ 773,065.00 in the year under review, an increase of 33.91 percent, while Assets of the bank went up from GH¢8,500,214.00 few years ago to GH¢8,918,628.00 last year, an increase of 4.92 percent.

The Board Chairman noted that the total income of the bank also increased from GH¢1,642,216.00 in 2012 to GH¢2,137,012.00 last year, an increase of 30.13 percent, while total deposits went down from GH¢4,893,905 to GH¢4,886,659, a decrease of 0.15 percent.

He said the headquarters building of the bank has become its property, since a loan contracted to construct the building had been fully paid, while a new agency of the bank has been opened at Agogo in the Asante-Akim District of the Ashanti Region.

He disclosed that the Nkawkaw Agency would be opened before the end of the year, in line with the expansion program of the bank.

In an address read on his behalf, the Managing Director of the ARB Apex Bank, Mr. Kwadwo Ayeh Kusi, appealed to management of the bank to sharpen their treasury management skills, improve the banks services on commission and free based products, and develop more products to diversify the bank's income streams.

He also urged management of the bank to ensure that the loan portfolio remained healthy to ensure that it extended loans to more customers to raise as much funds as possible.

The Managing Director said banking business had become very competitive and risky, and urged the board of directors and management to institute a process that would identify, measure, monitor and control all forms of risk at the bank.

The General Manager of the Bank, Mr Joseph Mensah Jr, appealed to shareholders and customers to increase their share capital, for the bank to increase its capital base to protect the bank against borrowing from the ARB Apex Bank and other banks, and be able to grant loans and other financial assistance to its customers.

The Member of Parliament for Afram Plains South,

Mr Joseph Appiah Boateng, urged the bank to invest some of its profit in profitable ventures to increase the capital base of the bank.