Dr. Owusu Manu, President of the Eastern Region Chapter of the Association of Rural Banks (ARB) has alerted rural banks to the threat from an influx of universal banks into their geographical locations."They are establishing agencies and mobilization centres in rural areas we thought had been designated for the rural banks."He said the way out was for the rural banks to find ways and means of increasing their profit margin to be able to stay in business.Dr. Manu said rural banks will therefore have to tap into each other's store of expertise, minimise expenditure, increase profit margins and bring better customer relation techniques to bear on their operations.He advised rural banks to be meticulous in granting loans to traders and non-salaried customers because of their bad loan repayment record.Dr. Manu was speaking at the 26th annual general meeting of the Anum Rural Bank at the weekend.Regarding its performance, Anum Rural Bank earned 84.6 percent profit before tax of GH¢97,996 in 2008 as against GH¢53,084 in 2007, a gain of GH¢44,912."All components of the income side of the profit and loss statement recorded significant increases during the year under review, " Mr. Theodore Kwame Gyau, Chairman, Board of Directors, told shareholders of the bank.The bank's net interest income grew from GH¢537,843 in 2007 to GH¢725,966 in 2008 while commission and fees appreciated from GH¢227,714 to GH¢252,545 in the same period.Mr. Gyau said the bank's operating income grew by 26.5 percent from 786,251 Ghana cedis in 2007 to 994,470 Ghana cedis in 2008.The bank's operating expenses for 2008 was 22.0 percent as against 38.0 percent in 2007, he noted."The relatively lower increase was due largely to stringent control measures during the year under review", Mr. Gyau said.He said the overall increase in the bank's expenditure resulted from increased provision in charge for credit losses arising from a significant increase in the bank's Loan and advances portfolio "coupled with increased staff costs."The bank declared a dividend of 0.25 Ghana pesewas in 2008 against no dividend in 2007.Mr. Eric Osei-Bonsu. Managing Director of ARB Apex Bank Limited, rated the bank's performance as "satisfactory" on the basis of the 2008 fourth-quarter report on the Efficiency Monitoring Unit (EMU) of the ARB Apex Bank Limited. "It is also pertinent to mention that your stated capital of GH¢373,141 far exceeds the minimum threshold of GH¢150,000 stipulated by the Bank of Ghana. "I commend you highly for such a wonderful performance," he said.Though located in the Eastern Region, the Anum Rural Bank operates in parts of the Volta Region such as the Peki, Dzemeni and Juapong areas.Source: B&FT