The ARB Apex Bank Limited, would soon support Rural and Community Banks (RCBs) to engage young university and polytechnic graduates to further improve their human resource capacity. Mr Eric Osei-Bonsu, Managing Director of ARB Apex Bank Limited, announced this at the 13th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Adonten Community Bank at New Tafo on Saturday. He said the Apex Bank would be responsible for the payment of their salaries for the initial period of attachment and training of the selected graduates who would preferably be citizens or residents of RCBs host communities. Mr Osei-Bonsu encouraged the Adonten Community Bank, and indeed all RCBs to take advantage of that opportunity to enhance their human resource capacity. He urged the bank to take advantage of the improving macro-economic environment, the various opportunities and interventions to grow and further strengthen the bank. Mr Osei-Bonsu disclosed that the rural banking industry continued to benefit from the support of Development Partners. “The ARB Apex Bank recently signed an agreement with DANIDA in respect of a project to support the rural banking industry with four key components”. He mentioned the components as the Rural Finance Wholesale Fund, the Merger fund, RCBs Capacity Building Support Fund and Human Resource Development of ARB Apex Bank. “The Rural Finance Wholesale Fund is to enable RCBs to finance activities which require loans whose tenure exceeded 18 months but not more than five years. This fund will be managed by the Apex Bank”. Mr Osei-Bonsu said the Merger fund would assist RCBs which intended to access consultancy services to take them through the whole merger process. “The Human Resource Development of ARB Bank is intended to assist the Apex Bank to implement its training programme for its personnel including the Board, Management and staff based on the training needs assessment carried out by the Bank”. He said the RCBs Capacity Building Support Fund aimed to support capacity building of the human resource of the RCBs adding, “This component is being implemented in partnership with the Rural and Agricultural Finance Programme (RAFIP). Mr Osei-Bonsu expressed the hope that the bank would avail itself of all the opportunities that the project would offer to further grow and strengthen the bank. He commended the bank on its remarkable performance, which had earned it the 17th position among the 133 RCBs as per the composite rating of the Efficiency Monitoring Unit of the ARB Apex Bank. Mr Osei Bonsu however cautioned the board, management and staff of the bank not to be complacent and rest on their oars. He stressed the need for RCBs to continuously train their staff and upgrade their skills to enable them perform efficiently.