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Shareholders of the Brakwa Breman Rural Bank (BBRB) at Breman Brakwa in the Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa District have been advised to purchase more shares in the bank to make it more viable. According to the General Manager of the bank, Mr Kaedabi Donkor, shareholders needed to increase their shares to enable the bank to meet the minimum capital requirement stipulated by the Bank of Ghana as the standard for rural banks across the country. Mr Donkor gave the advice when he addressed the 29th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the bank at Brakwa. He said the banking sector had become very competitive and as such, it was incumbent on shareholders to invest more in order to sustain the operations of the bank. He stated further that if the bank was unable to increase its minimum capital requirement from the current level of GH�173,272 to GH�300,000 as required by the central bank, the bank might be taken over by a stronger bank. Chairman�s report The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the bank, Mr Anthony Effah, said the bank�s total income without total interest expense for the year ending 2013 stood at GH�1,488,155. He said compared to the previous year�s income of GH�1,253,886, there had been a 22.5 per cent increase in income. He said out of this amount, GH�1,399,803 was attributable to interest on income, while GH�204,732 was received from commissions, fees and other charges. He said operating expense during the period under review increased significantly from GH�867,081 to GH�1,323,653 as a result of the high cost of doing business in 2013. According to him, the rate of inflation, which moved from a long-term single digit to double digit, made operations of the bank more expensive. He said profit before tax in 2013 reduced from GH�286,589 to GH�124,382, a decrease of 56 per cent over the previous year. This, he said, was due to operational cost incurred. Mr Effah said the year under review also recorded a marginal increase in deposit levels from GH�3,808,144 to GH�3,936,550, which represented a 56 per cent growth. He pointed out that in spite of the economic challenges in 2013, total assets of the bank increased from GH�5,902,943 to GH�6,289,873 comprising a 6.5 per cent growth. The board chairman indicated that total investments increased slightly from GH�1,103,127 to GH�1,118,127, symbolising a 1.4 per cent increase over the previous year as a result of withdrawals of capital during the year in support of women engaged in indigenous enterprises and other loan programmes. Under the prevailing conditions, he said, the bank�s stated capital of GH�173,272 limited its ability to do business.