Bogoso (W/R), Nov 17, GNA - The computerisation of rural banks will begin before the end of the year, Mr. Emmanuel Kwapong, the Managing Director of the Apex Bank, has said.

He said Bank had begun training rural banks' staff for the Wide Area Network (WAN) programme that would connect all the rural financing institutions.

Mr Kwapong said this in an address read for him at the 15th annual general meeting of stakeholders of the Bogoso Area Rural Bank on Saturday. He said more attention would be given to the training in micro-finance methodologies to enable the banks to offer more effective support to the operations of small-scale entrepreneurs.

This, Mr Kwapong said, would enable the rural banks to fulfil their mandate to give adequate support to the economic activities of the communities in which they operate to enhance the government's poverty reduction programme. He said all arrangements with the Bank of Ghana for the supply of cash for rural and community banks to facilitate the purchase of cocoa through the Akuafo cheque system have been completed.

Three Apex Bank branches would be opened at Takoradi, Kumasi and Bolgatanga next year. Two more branches at Sunyani and Accra would be opened later to bring the number of the branches to five by the end of 2005.

Mr. Daniel Ohene Owusu, a deputy Chief Manager of the Bank of Ghana, said some members of staff of the Bogoso Rural Bank engaged in fraudulent practices that affected the growth of the bank.

He said the situation resulted in the dissolution of the board of directors and replacing it with an interim management committee.

Mr Owusu assured the public that the Bank of Ghana would not shirk its responsibility of ensuring that operations of the rural banks were safe, sound and stable to sustain the interest of both depositors and shareholders.

Mr. Emmanuel Brempong, supervising manager of the bank, said the bank made a net profit of 40.131 million cedis as against 232.461 million cedis in the previous year.

It granted loans and overdrafts totalling 2.9 billion cedis to 2098 customers during the year under review.

The bank's assets increased from about 9.2 billion cedis in 2001 to 11.068 billion cedis during the period under review.

Mr. Joseph Boahen Aidoo, Western Region Minister, said the steady decline in the bank's profits calls for innovativeness and determination to enable it to find solutions to problems facing the bank.

He called on the staff to be hard working and to guard against deals and scandalous activities that resulted in the bank loosing a colossal sum of 1.2 billion cedis in 2002.