Akatsi, Aug. 17, GNA - The Avenor Rural Bank at Akatsi netted 81 per cent after tax profit of 57,094 Ghana cedis in 2007 up from 31,524 Ghana cedis the previous year.

The Bank's assets also appreciated by 58 per cent from 1,006,096 Ghana cedis to 1,587,793 Ghana cedis, loans and advances rose by 43 per cent from 761,429 Ghana Cedis to reach 1,089,271 Ghana cedis, while net interest income jumped to 97 per cent from 146,600 Ghana cedis to 288,846 Ghana cedis the same period.

These and other spectacular successes placed "the Bank in the highly performing rural banks bracket in Ghana," Mr Peter M. Samlafo, Chairman for the Bank's Board of Director at the Bank's 26th Annual General Meeting at Akatsi at the weekend.

He said shares climbed from 121,852 Ghana Cedis to reach a high of 175,931 Ghana cedis, a 44 per cent increase over the previous year's standing.

Mr Samlafo said the Bank's deposits rose from 605,873 Ghana cedis to reach 1,026,339 Ghana Cedis, a 69.5 percent increase contributing to the growth in its assets.

The Bank was able to meet its minimum capital requirement of 50,000 Ghana cedis, he said.

Mr Samlafo said these positive performances notwithstanding payment of dividends had to be shelved following the sudden increase of the capital threshold for Rural and Community Banks (RCBs) from 50,000 Ghana Cedis to 150,000 Ghana cedis as from June this year by the Bank of Ghana.

Mr Samlafo therefore appealed to the Bank's shareholders to increase their holdings to enable it meet the new requirement. He said the Bank, which now has three agencies has been selected to participate in the disbursement of the Millennium Challenge Account.

Mr Hyginus Zon, Head, Inspection and Audit Unit of ARB Apex Bank Limited commending the Bank for its excellent performance, urged it to do more in organizational restructuring, credit administration, cost control and reduction to be able to measure up to the competitive environment.

He asked the RCBs to establish internal audit units for internal control, the absence of which, he said, caused the liquidation of one of the Rural Banks through tax fraud.

Mr Zon announced that the Apex Bank was withdrawing bullion van services to the RCBs due to the high operational cost and was arranging with a vehicle sales company to supply special vehicles to the RCBs for use as bullion vans.

He urged them to comply with changes made by the Bank of Ghana regarding ownership structure and governance, minimum capital requirement, computerization and payment system reform, secondary reserve requirement and loan rectification, which would no longer require RCBs to obtain approval from the Bank of Ghana for granting loans above 2000 Ghana cedis.