Sandema (UE), Dec. 22, GNA - The Builsa Community Bank in Sandema in the Builsa District of the Upper East Region, bagged 606,087.00 Ghana Cedis from its operations in 2008, representing a significant increase of 49 per cent over the previous year.

The Bank's total operations expenditure in 2008 stood at 455,049.00 Ghana Cedis as compared to 333,608.00 Ghana Cedis in 2007, resulting in net profit before tax of 151,038.00 Ghana Cedis, representing an increase of 106 per cent.

The Board Chairman of the Bank, Mr. Edward Atagabe disclosed this during the Annual General Meeting (AGM) and the inauguration of the bank's new premises at Sandema at the Weekend.

He indicated that the bank's capital amounted to 156,180.00 Ghana Cedis, representing an increase of 2.3 per cent over the 2007 financial year, exceeding the minimum capital requirement of the Bank of Ghana by 6,180.00 Ghana Cedis.

The Board Chairman said total deposits mobilised by the bank amounted to 1,783,826.00 Ghana Cedis, representing an increase of close to 6.7 in 2008 and said the bank also granted loans and advances of 1,532,399.00 Ghana Cedis.

Mr. Atagabe said the Bank also disbursed 2,752.00 Ghana Cedis in fulfilment of its social responsibilities in education, farmers Day, Sports, Culture and Water and Sanitation.

He said the bank had also established a customer unit that addresses customer complaints.

Mr. Atagabe said Apex Bank helped the financial entity to complete its headquarters project at Sandema at the cost of 3666,571.60 Ghana Cedis. He said the Bank had procured additional computer software to meet the operational requirement for immediate computerisation under the Millennium Challenge Accountant by the end of the first quarter of 2010. The Deputy Regional Minister, Mrs. Lucy Awuni commended the bank for supporting the farmers' day and sponsoring needy but brilliant students in the area.

She said Government was committed to private sector investment and would work through the Ministry of Trade and Industry to facilitate the granting of loans to small scale businesses especially those operated by women to expand their businesses. Mrs Awuni urged the bank to streamline its operations to make it more flexible for customers in the rural areas to easily access loans from them to establish their businesses. In a speech read on his behalf, the Managing Director of Apex Bank, Mr. Eric Osei-Bonsu asked the bank not to relent on its achievements but strive harder to consolidate those gains and improve upon it. 22 Dec. 09