By
Samuel Akumatey, GNA
Ho, Oct. 10, GNA – ARB Apex Bank is going
through a restructuring process to remain a dominant force in the rural
financing sector, Mr Kojo Mattah, Managing Director of the Bank, has said.
He said it was crucial for the Bank to
strengthen its commitment to Rural and Community Banks (RCBs) and cushion them
against crisis within the banking industry in recent times.
“Due to the … changes being introduced by the
Bank of Ghana, the ARB Apex Bank and the RCBs have been strategizing to
reposition themselves as relevant players in rural financial intermediation,”
he stated.
Mr Mattah was addressing the Bank’s 17th
Annual Managers Conference in Ho, which was on the theme: “Rendering Service
with Passion; a Panacea for Competitive Advantage”, which attracted technical
advisors from all RCBs to make them ready for the challenge through series of
training modules.
The Managing Director said as part of the
restructuring, seasoned consultants had been engaged to equip executives with
contemporary strategies, whiles its staff stock had also been enhanced by
experienced hands, expected to boost its operations.
Mr Mattah called on RCBs to present a united
front, and fall on their network of branches for market advantage.
“Let us continue to work together as RCBs by
eschewing the concept of seeing ourselves as working silos. Let us rather pool
every special insight we can muster and forge a united front to enable us to
work together,” he said.
Mr Mattah called for “passion” in serving
clients, saying “today’s customers are spoilt for choice because they have a
multiplicity of service offerings to choose from.
“Let us as RCBs, strive to offer unique and
more value-added services to our customers in order to exceed their
expectations. It is more expensive to raise new customers than to maintain
existing ones,” he added.
Mrs Comfort Owusu, Executive Director of the
Association of Rural Banks, said the Association was collaborating with the GIZ
and the ARB on risk management and fraud detection training in 2019, and would
include training on Corporate Governance for Directors, General Managers and
Chief Executives.
She appealed to Government to expedite the
review process of the 25 per cent Corporate Tax on RCBs, which she said was
affecting their performance.
GNA