Juaben Bank Posts 42.65% Growth In Profit

The Juaben Rural Bank Limited at Juaben in the Ejisu - Juaben Municipality of Ashanti Region has recorded very remarkable progress in the 2010 year under review. The Bank consolidated its strength in profitability and recorded an annual operating profit before tax of a little over GH�1million as compared to approximately GH�710,000 made in 2009, representing a 42.65% increase. With this sterling performance, the Bank came 3rd in both the National and Ashanti Rural Banks� ranking in terms of profit. The Bank was also first in the area of cost & income ratio among the rural banks in the country. This remarkable feat was achieved as a result of pragmatic policies and prudent management of the resources of the Bank. The Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mr. Kwabena Asante Krobea, announced this at the Bank�s 26th Annual General shareholders meeting held recently. According to him, the Bank registered a very satisfactory performance in all the performance indicators in spite of the major economic challenges posed by heightened local competition as well as the many negative effects on the operations of the Bank. He however mentioned the relative stability in the Global economy during the year 2010, although prices of primary commodities including oil continued its upward trend. On the other hand, he said, these were marked by macro-economic stability in the Ghanaian economy. The Ghanaian cedi performed creditably against all the major currencies and year-end inflation fell from 18% at the end of 2009 to 9% by the 31st of December 2010. During the same period, the Central Bank�s Prime Rate dropped to 13.5% from a figure of 18% in the year 2009. The reduction of Prime Rate by the Bank of Ghana brought in its wake a fall in the rate of Treasury bills from which the Bank derives a large chunk of its income. That notwithstanding, the managers of Juaben Rural Bank put in place sound policies to minimise the effect that the fall in Treasury bill rates should have had on the Bank. In spite of the challenges encountered in the year under review, the bank�s performance for 2010 was very encouraging as shown in the table below.