Rural Banks have been alerted to a new form of fraud by people using fake National Service Secretariat posting forms to dupe the Banks. They scan copies of the form, paste their pictures on them and present them to the bank managers as having been posted to the banks to do their national service. Duke Osam-Duodo, Deputy Managing Director of ARB Apex Bank Limited, who made this disclosure at the 25th annual general meeting of the Ahantaman Rural Bank at Agona Nkwanta in the Ahanta West District on Saturday, said the fraudsters were aided by bank staff, especially clearance officers. He declined to name the rural banks which have fallen victim to such fraudulent acts but advised the managements of rural banks to guard against their activities. He advised them to always demand ARB Apex Bank receipts from their Clearance Officers immediately they returned from clearance explaining that the clearance officers were issued with receipts to cover their transactions at ARB and therefore, bank managers must demand them and immediately clear with ARB. Mr. Osam-Duodo urged the shareholders to increase their shares in order to strengthen the capital base of the bank. He commended the Board of Directors, the management and the staff of the bank for their hard work which had enabled the bank to shift from the 88th position in 2005 to 39th in 2008, on the list of 130 Rural and Community Banks in good standing. In his report, the Chairman of the Board, Joshua Ackah, disclosed that the bank made a profit after tax of GH¢403,457.00 in 2008. Its share capital rose from GH¢403,457.00 in 2008. Its share capital rose from GH¢278,747 in 2007 to GH¢468,845 in 2008 while deposits also rose from GH¢6,066,171 to GH¢7,381,252 over the same period. The bank spent GH¢17,257 to support development projects in the communities and institutions in its catchment area during the period as compared to GH¢18,050 spent the previous year. Since 1988, Mr Ackah said the bank has awarded scholarship to 224 students from various Senior High and tertiary institutions. It also advanced loans totaling GH¢5,540,233 to customers during the period as compared to GH¢4,131,052 granted in 2007. Mr John Dadzie, Chief Executive Officer of the bank, said its financial income grew to GH¢2,230,078 in 2008 from GH¢1,982.134 in 2007. Source: The Ghanaian Times