[ 2021-02-13 ]

BESSFA Rural Bank opens two new branches in NER
The Bawku East Small-Scale Farmers Association
(BESSFA) Rural Bank Limited has opened two new
branches at Nalerigu and Bunkpurugu, in the North
East Region.

Apart from the first branch at Nakpanduri, which
was the only branch in the North East Region until
the two, the Bank established in 1983, had three
fully computerized and networked branches at Garu,
its headquarters, Bawku and Pusiga in the Upper
East Region.

Alhaji Hayatudeen Awudu Ibrahim, the General
Manager of the Bank, at the opening of the two
banks, stated that the new banks were initially
operating as Mobilization Centres for many years
and officers of the Bank were sent from the
Nakpanduri Branch to serve customers at the two
locations on market days only, the services
offered were limited to taking deposits and
accepting withdrawals.

He said the inconvenience and the cost usually
incurred by the clients from the two locations in
travelling more than a day or two to enable them
access loans at the Nakpanduri Branch, prompted
the Board and Management of the bank to open the
two new banks in order to address the challenges.

Alhaji Ibrahim said the mother bank had made plans
to install Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) at the
two newly established branches within the next
twelve months to provide clients with 24/7 access
to their funds and to also make it convenient for
customers to access their funds anytime and
anywhere in the country.

The General Manager commended the Bank of Ghana
for granting the mother bank, the approval to
establish the two new banks in Nalerigu and
Bunkpurugu after successfully going through all
the necessary processes and meeting all the
regulatory requirements.

He said the new branches were fully equipped with
modern infrastructure to provide safe and
conducive working environment to serve the clients
efficiently and effectively.

He said the Bank envisioned to be the most
preferred financial institution among the best and
its mission was to promote financial inclusion and
create value for stakeholders through excellent
service, innovation and professionalism.

The General Manager said the Bank was one of the
leading financial institutions in the country that
advanced more loans to the agricultural sector
than any other sector even though many financial
institutions in the country considered the
agribusiness sector, particularly crop production
as a high-risk venture and so offered little or no
support to it.

“We have by this gesture succeeded in bringing
the best out of our farmers leading to an increase
in food production, food security and guaranteed
business and household income for about 38 years.
Most of the youth and women within our catchment
area have taken agriculture as business and have
since moved from subsistence farming to commercial
farming due to our consistent support to them. I
am happy to state that agribusiness loans take
about 36 percent of the entire loans and advances
on our balance sheet as at the end of December,
2020”.

The General Manager stated that due to the
bank’s good performances in the area of
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) especially
in the areas of education, health, water and
sanitation, agriculture, environment, sports and
culture, it received the enviable award at the
2020 Ghana Philanthropy Awards held in Accra in
December last year.

Source - GNA

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