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March 11, 2016
Rural Banks to receive over 38 million
dollars to enhance operations
Accra, Nov. 11, GNA - The Government has earmarked over 38
million dollars for injection into the rural banks under the
Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) to help to modernize
their operations and ensure quality service delivery.
Of the amount, 18 million dollars would be used for their
computerization while the remaining 20 million dollars would
go into on-lending to clients principally engaged in farming
and agri-businesses in the MCA's project areas.
President John Agyekum Kufuor announced these when he
inaugurated the ARB Apex Bank's Head Office building in
Accra on Thursday.
It was built and furnished at a cost of 3.8 million dollars
out of which, 2.1 million dollars was from the Rural
Financial Services Project (RFSP) with the ARB Apex Bank
contributing the rest of the amount of 1.7 million dollars.
The Apex Bank was incorporated in January 2000, as a public
limited liability company and commenced banking business
operations on July 2, 2002. It provides requisite
operational support services to the rural and community
banks.
President Kufuor said the Government was determined to
support the Apex Bank to develop its capacity to exercise
oversight authority over the rural banks as it saw it as a
vital link in all of its initiatives directed at poverty
reduction and the development of the rural communities.
"Our vision for this Bank is that of providing all the vital
banking and non-banking support to the rural banks to enable
them to truly impact on their catchment areas to promote
growth and reduce poverty at the grassroots."
He said it was no secret that most banks found it too risky
to support agriculture adding that, it was in respect of
this that the Government was tasking the Apex Bank to assume
the lead role in providing services to the rural community
generally, and small-scale farmers in particular.
"It is largely by this intervention that producers of our
staple food and the non-traditional crops which are gaining
in economic importance as well as new plants that are being
developed for processing into bio-fuel can be cultivated
economically."
President Kufuor said whereas the banks might have cause to
be cautious about operating in rural areas because of
difficulties of former times, there was no doubt that now
conditions were changing rapidly for the better to warrant a
review of their policies and attitudes.
Dr Paul Acquah, Governor of the Bank of Ghana, asked the
Bank to play a pioneering role in integrating the rural
banking industry into the common electronic platform and
switch that the Central Bank was building as a vital pillar
for an electronic payments system infrastructure.
The common platform, he said included a domestic switch with
a fully integrated payments switching and settlement system
for all banks.
Dr (Mrs) Gloria Nikoi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of
Apex Bank, said a domestic funds product launched by the
Bank in 2003 and which has been christened "Apex Link" has
channelled more than 750 billion cedis into the rural
economy.
Earlier in a welcoming address, Mr Emmanuel Kwapong,
Managing Director of the Bank, said their mission was to
improve the operational efficiency of the rural banks and to
transform them into efficient and viable rural financial
intermediaries, which, would address the banking needs of
the communities where they operated.
GNA
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