BoG Petitioned Over Provisions of Corporate Governance Directives for RCBs

By Samuel Akapule

Sandema — The National Council of the Association of Rural Banks has petitioned the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to reconsider some of the provisions of the corporate governance directives issued to Rural and Community Banks (RCBs).

The corporate governance directives seek to regulate the activities of the board and senior management of banks and specialised deposit taking institutions to help clean up the banking industry.

The President of the Upper East chapter of the Association of Rural Banks (ARBs), Mr Cletus Azaabi who spoke on behalf of the National Council of the RCBs at the 19th annual general meeting of the Builsa Community Bank Limited, expressed concern that many of the provisions in the directive were inimical to the operations of RCBs.

He said the clause that stipulated that Board of Directors of RCBs should serve for a period of twelve years was not the best.

Mr Azaabi also explained that the provision that General Manager and supervising managers should stay on for a maximum of 12 years should be removed completely, adding that the "General Manager and supervising managers should be allowed to work with their RCBs for as long as they are ready to and the Board of the respective RCBs are satisfied with their performance".

He however, said the provision limiting the shareholdings of directors and their relatives to a maximum of five per cent ordinary shares in RCBs was good.

"The National Council further advocated the implementation period of the Directive to start after December 2020. It is our hope that BoG listens to our demands and amend those key provisions in order to promote the growth and the survival of our RCBs," Mr Azaabi appealed.

The Chairperson of the bank, Mrs Akanbangbiem Agamu Asokea, said the bank recorded GH¢895,848 as a net profit before tax at the ending of the year 2018 as against GH¢702,727 in 2017.

He said the bank ended the year under review with a stated capital of GH¢1.54 million which exceeded the mandatory minimum capital requirement of the GH¢1milliorn announced by the BOG.

Mrs Asokea further announced that the Board had approved a two-year employment development plan aimed at building talents from within the existing pool of staff and noted that under the plan officers would be selected, trained and maintained to take up higher responsibilities in the bank.

She said that during the year under review, the bank as part of its Corporate Social Responsibilities, spent GH¢37,780 on education, health, agriculture, culture and sports.

The Regional Minister, Ms Paulina Patience Abayage, in a speech read for her by the District Chief Executive for the area, Mr David Amoabil Afoko, commended the Builsa Community Bank Limited for its sterling performance particularly in the areas of agriculture, health and education.

She said the government was grateful to the bank for complementing government's efforts and appealed to the bank to help the government in its implementation of the Planting for Food and Jobs and the Rearing for Food and Jobs programmes to enhance food sufficiency.

Ms Abayage appealed to the bank to support members of the Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) to become more functional to improve the living standards of their families.

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