Customers and shareholders of Atiwa Rural Bank have rained praises on management and staff of the bank for working tirelessly to enhance the economic well being of the rural folks in its catchment areas.
The Atiwa Rural Bank currently has several branches in a number of Districts in the Eastern Region offering financial services to their customers who are mostly peasant farmers, petty traders and small and medium scale enterprises.
In an interview with some of the bank’s customers at Kwabeng during its Annual General Meeting, they urged the bank to keep up its good work and try to expand its loan facilities to all, especially rural women.
Mrs Rose Obeng Asare, a customer said, “They are doing well. They have expanded even their loans and I think among the community banks they are the only bank that when you approach for a loan they easily give you.
“And even in their books this year I have seen that they want to increase it and expand their loans so that more petty traders can access.”
She urged that the Atiwa Rural Bank should focus more on helping women with loans to do businesses.
“You see, it is the women who are taking care of their families, so, I want to entreat that when the women come for loans they should meet their requests so they can do business to take care of their families,” she stressed.
Another customer, Ofosu Akomaning, expressed satisfaction about Atiwa Rural Bank;
“I’m a customer of the bank. From the financial statement that we had, the bank has done well by realizing some profits in the last period.
It is only that the government, through the Bank of Ghana, has ruled that no dividend should be shared. But for that we would have got some dividends,” he said.
Mr. Akomaning, describing the bank’s performance as “So far so good”, however, expressed worry about some strange charges being deducted from his savings account but was quick to indicate that the bank has promised to rectify the anomaly.
“Yes, it is serving the rural folks well. The catchment area is a rural community and they are giving small loans to traders and farmers.
“The only problem is the recovery rate. You see. Some people, when they get the money, they are happy, but when it comes to repayment, then there’s a problem,” Mr. Akomaning pointed out.
A former District Chief Executive of Atiwa West, Isaac Akomaning Asamoah, who is also a customer and a shareholder expressed confidence in Atiwa Rural Bank and lauded its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts to the rural communities and to other public institutions that operate in its catchment areas.
On his part, the Eastern Regional Manager of ARB-Apex Bank, Nana Frimpong Asare, extolled the Atiwa Rural Bank for making the mother body of all rural banks proud.
“When the rural banks perform well, the Apex Bank becomes very happy.
“Like as Atiwa has performed now. In 2019, they made a loss of GHC209,397 but in 2020, they made a profit of GHC575,696. And that’s very impressive!
“Their total assets also grew from GHC23,771,783 in 2019 to GHC36,376,374 in 2020. Their total deposits also grew from 22,318,286 in 2019 to GHC33,324,246 in 2020.
“This is a very impressive performance. They have done well by wiping away their debits and made this huge profit, in fact, it is a very good achievement,” The Regional Apex Bank Manager lauded.
Meanwhile, the Management of Atiwa Rural Bank have pledged not to relent on their oars but to continue to serve the needs of rural folks, especially the women.
The Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Benjamin Owusu, said that despite the challenge of a chunk of their funds being locked up with Fund Managers, they have employed strategic means to remain viable and liquidated to serve their customers and the society at large.