Managing Director of CAL Bank, Mr. Frank Adu Jnr has expressed optimism in the bank’s operation despite a general difficulty that hit the financial sector in 2015, resulting in a low output.
Speaking at the bank’s Annual General Meeting held in Accra, Mr. Adu recalled that a number of challenges including the power crisis, depreciation of the cedi, falling prices of commodities, and the global economic slowdown affected the financial sector adversely.
“The depreciation of the cedi was steep in the first half of the year but recovered to close the year at 15.7 percent compared to 31.3 percent in 2014”, he said.
He added that “the falling prices of commodities including oil cocoa and gold on the international markets also adversely impacted the Ghanaian economy”.
He pointed out that the central bank’s decision to merge the policy rate with the reverse repo and also increased the policy rate to 26 percent from 21 percent at the end of 2014 was also a challenge.
He however maintained that the bank will remain committed to scaling new heights, while delivering strong and sustainable returns for the benefit of its shareholders, clients and stakeholders.
“As such, our digital transformation strategy for 2016 to 2018 has been crafted with a clear intention of accomplishing an even better future amidst the multiple challenges”, he said.
Profit After Tax
Touching on the banks financial review, the Board Chairman, Mr. Paarock A. VanPercy disclosed that in 2015, the bank recorded a profit after tax of GHS160.0 million and GHS166.2 million by the bank and the group respectively.
He explained that the figures represented an increase of 14.0 percent and 16.0 percent by the bank and the group respectively over the prior year’s performance.
This among other initiatives contributed to a significant growth in total assets of 23.8 percent for the bank to close at GHS3.35 billion and 24.0 percent for the Group close at GHS3.36 billion.
Dividend
The board recommended a dividend per share of GHS0.097, which amounted to a total payout of GHS13.18 million, representing a growth of 19.7 percent over 2014 which was at 33 percent.
By: Lawrence Segbefia /citibusinessnews.com /Ghana