Kumasi, Sept. 7, GNA - Trouble borne by banks to carry cheques for clearance at the Bank of Ghana will end by December when the Code Line Cheque Truncation System of the National Payments and Settlement Reforms Project become operational. Mr. Chris Oppong-Appau, Ashanti Regional Manager of the Bank of Ghana, said delays banks faced in clearing their cheques would also stop.

He was addressing the 20th Annual General Meeting of shareholders of the Nwabiagya Rural Bank at Barekese in the Atwima-Nwabiagya District of Ashanti on Friday.

The bank improved on its performance for the 2007 declaring a pre-tax profit of GH¢468,000 as against GH¢307,000 for 2006. Mr Oppong-Appau said the Automated Clearing House would be a secure payment transfer system that would connect all financial institutions in the country to facilitate transfer of funds and financial data electronically.

"It will also aid credit transactions such as direct deposits of payrolls, social security benefits and tax refunds as well as payments to contractors and vendors", he said. Mr. Oppong-Appau said for the efficiency of these reforms, the Ghana Inter Bank Payments and Settlement Systems (GHIPSS) have been set up as a separate entity to manage the payments and settlement system. Mr. Eric Osei-Bonsu, Managing Director of the ARB Apex Bank, said in a speech read on his behalf that rural and community banks should have an internal audit unit as part of their management structure. He appealed to rural banks to comply with the BOG's Payment System Reforms to put their financial data in the Globus/Emerge ready format as specified by the ARB Apex Bank in readiness for the implementation of the computerization/WAN project under the Millennium Challenge Account. Mr. Osei-Bonsu said secondary reserve requirements would be abolished for all rural banks that have complied with the directive and that the BOG approval for loans above 2,000.00 Ghana Cedis would no longer be required but they would however be required to submit to the BOG returns on loans granted on a monthly basis.

He said Nwabiagya Rural Bank was among the 26 Rural and Community banks in the country that have been able to meet the BOG minimum capital requirement of 150,000.00 Ghana Cedis.

Nana Owusu Sarfo Anwona II, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank was honoured by the Barekese Traditional Council of Chiefs for his immense contribution to the development of the bank. He said following the central bank's announcement of raising capital requirement, the board has approved the sale of shares on a right issues basis from September 5 to the end of the month. 07 Sept 08