The Akyempim Rural Bank at Gomoa Dawurampong in the Gomoa West District of the Central Region has declared a profit of GH¢113,320.00 for the year 2009, as against GH¢109,546 in the 2008 financial year. Col. Rtd K.K. Nyame, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank, said this at the 25th Annual General Meeting of the shareholders at Dawurampong. He said the deposits of the Bank increased by 27 per cent to GH¢3,653,528 in 2009 from GH¢2,875,097 in 2008, while the total assets also grew from GH¢4,160,753 in 2008 to GH¢4,901,248 in 2009. The Chairman said the investment at the close of 2009 stood at GH¢1,000,000 as against GH¢800,000 in 2008. Col Nyame declared that even though the Bank had met the Bank of Ghana stated minimum capital requirement by December 2007, it had increased fromGH¢203,861 in 2008 to GH¢254,620 in 2009. He said the Bank had disbursed a total of GH¢2,280,387.00 in 2009, as loans and advances to 6,344 customers in the area of transport, education, agriculture, construction and property acquisition, as against GH¢2,239,565 in 2008, and recommended the payment of GH¢26,851 as dividend to be distributed at GH¢0.02 per share to the shareholders of the bank. Col Nyame said a total of GH¢13,426 had been issued as bonus share at the cost of GH¢3.4 per share to raise GH¢45,648.00 as additional capital to bring the start-up capital to over GH¢254,000. Mr Eric Bonsu, Managing Director of ARB Apex Bank whose speech was red on his behalf, said the Apex Bank was in the process of creating special unity to provide custodial services for rural and community banks to manage Tiers II and III new pension scheme contributions. He said, "If we are able to do this, delays associated with the current system will be a thing of the past since the level of re-organization of the pension schemes in Ghana has been completed by the government." He said the Apex Bank will start negotiating the payment of insurance claims to the Rural Banks, adding that it would bring additional income to the banks. On the micro finance, Mr Bonsu said the operation will create an opportunity to diversify banks portfolios and extend credit facilities to a large number of people, in addition to influencing donors to channel more assistance to support the economy in the rural areas. He appealed to the existing and potential shareholders of the bank to acquire more shares to increase the share capital. Source: GNA