Rural banks to get a new facelift

Story: Boahene Asamoah
THE ARB Apex Bank, a mini central bank of rural and community banks in the country, is to adopt a new corporate strategic plan that would ensure that all the 127 rural and community banks become a branch of the Apex Bank.
According to the new Managing Director, Mr Eric Osei-Bonsu, the new five-year corporate plan would spell out the modalities that would ensure an effective, smooth implementation.
He said the strategy was also to reposition the bank to become a major player in the financial sector of the economy.
Speaking in an interview during a courtesy call on the Management of Graphic Communications Group Limited in Accra, Mr Osei-Bonsu acknowledged that while that feat was a tall order, it was a vision that would be pursued vigorously.
He said the 127 rural and community banks had a combined capitalisation of about GH¢330 million (¢3.3 trillion) which made the rural banks a force to reckon with.
He acknowledged that the banking scene was changing, with some new banks strategically focused on rural and community financial service.
That, he said, should compel a new strategy that would ensure that rural and community banks became positioned strongly to play a meaningful financial intermediary in the rural economy.
He said the ARB Apex Bank, the first such kind in Africa, was a success story and had attracted many other countries to study how the system worked.
In view of that, he said, the bank would be looking to replicate such projects within the sub-region to ensure its impact on the people in the sub-region.
He said $18 million had been made available from the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) to help network all rural and community banks.
Mr Osei-Bonsu said the bank had also launched the Apex link that offered quick and safe transfer of funds from one rural bank to other parts of the country.