Juaben (Ash), Oct 24, GNA - Shareholders of the Juaben Rural Bank have resolved to consolidate their existing shares into smaller number of shares.

The consolidation of the shares into smaller ones will besides facilitating efficiency, will increase the dividends of the shareholders.

The bank is therefore to close its register for the sale of shares until 31st December 2004, when all the shares would have been consolidated and a new register compiled. The shareholders adopted the resolution at the 19th general meeting of the bank at Juaben on Saturday. The meeting also marked the 20th anniversary of the bank.

Presenting the bank's annual report, Mr Kwabena Asante-Krobea, first vice-chairman, said the bank made a net profit after tax of 1.9 billion cedis.

He said the directors therefore recommended a dividend of 200 million cedis and bonus share of 100 million cedis to the shareholders, which represented 63 per cent increase over the dividend paid last year. Mr Asante-Krobea said the bank's deposits rose from 14.3 billion cedis in 2002 to 21.7 billion cedis in 2003, while investments increased from 8.2 billion cedis in 2002 to 10 billion cedis. Total assets of the bank, he said, rose from 130 million cedis to 232 million cedis, while loans and advances moved from 6.6 billion cedis to 11 billion cedis with the shareholders fund rising from 1.5 billion cedis to 3.2 billion cedis.

He said based on the remarkable performance of the bank, the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, organisers of the prestigious Ghana Club 100 promotion, had admitted the bank into the club for the period 2002-2003.

The Juabenhene, Nana Otuo Sereboe II, expressed satisfaction with the performance and said his efforts in establishing the bank had not been in vain.

He was happy that the bank had been foremost in assisting the people of Juaben and surrounding communities to enjoy a better standard of living through the granting of loans.

Nana Sereboe lauded the directors, managements and staff of the bank for the unity of purpose and dedication with which they steered the affairs of the bank.

Mr Seth Ankrah of the Apex Bank said the training programmes embarked upon by Apex Bank for the staff and directors of rural banks would be extended to shareholders.

He said the training would enable them to increase their knowledge on rural banking and said it had also facilitated the clearing of cheques on behalf of rural and community banks, supply of cash for their operations and facilitated the purchase of cocoa through the Akuafo cheque system.

The bank honoured Nana Otuo Sereboe and the first Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the bank for their dedicated work. It also honoured some of the directors including Nana Awuah Darko Ampem I, who had been the board chairman since the inception of the bank in 1984.

Also honoured were the pioneer staff of the bank including the Supervising Manager, Mr Emmanuel Aboagye and some customers. Nana Sereboe later broke the ground for work on a new bank building to begin. It is estimated to cost about four billion cedis.