The London based Ghana International Bank has for the first time achieved increased balance sheet size to be valued at over 500 million dollars.

The bank grew its total assets from 391 million dollars in 2005 to about 587 million dollars last year.

Speaking at its Annual General Meeting in Accra on Tuesday, Chairman Dr. Paul Acquah said the Bank had achieved its target to increase full-year profit before tax by 56 percent from 3.96 million pounds to 6.18 million pounds in 2006.

Pre tax return on equity increased from 15.3 per cent to 17.4 per cent with cost to income ratio improving from 48 per cent to 43.7 per cent.

Dr. Acquah who is also the Governor of the Bank of Ghana said the outlook for the bank remained encouraging and commended the management and staff for their high level of professionalism and dedication.

He said this asset of the staff had resulted in the impressive performance.

The Ghana International Bank had in the past few years positioned itself as a Pan African bank which has resulted in the vindication of the new strategic direction.