By Afedzi Abdullah/ Victoria Agyemang, GNA
Cape Coast, Dec. 14, GNA - The University of Cape Coast Co-operative Credit Union has made significant achievements despite the financial upheavals faced by the banking sector and launched a new package with the aim of preparing and securing a financial risk-free future for its members.
The package, called the “Personal Development Account” (PDA), is also expected to contribute to building strong assets to achieve financial stability and long-term self-sufficiency of members.
Explaining the modality for accessing the new package during its 24th Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Thursday, Mr Eric Peter Mensah, the Board Chairman, said one needed a minimum of a thousand cedis to start, adding that customers would know the amount to receive at the end of the period.
“We encourage you to save over a period so that whatever you are going to get will be substantial enough for you to engage in whatever kind of project you are interested in”, he told the customers.
The Board Chairman said despite the difficult economic environment, the credit union recorded an impressive advancement with its total assets from GH¢ 23,364,436.78 in 2018 to GH¢ 28,337,667.15 in 2019.
He said the credit union gained a differential growth of GH¢ 53,691.59 representing 21.29 percent while its net surplus increased from GH¢ 1,789,869.24 in 2018 to GH¢ 2,108,039.37 in the year under review.
The Credit Union also made a total income of GH¢ 4,233,203.21 as against 3,696,431.62 in 2018 and recorded a total of GH¢ 6,938,919 liquid investments as against GH¢ 4,358,654 in the previous year.
The Board, therefore with the approval of customers, proposed to pay 25 per cent dividend on the shares of members, the highest ever in the history of the Union.
The Board also proposed to increase the minimum shares from GH¢ 300.00 to GH¢ 500.00, which was to be paid for a period of 20 months beginning, the end of January 2020.
Mr Mensah said a total of GH¢ 11,129,881 loans were given out to customers in 2019 representing 11.96 percent growth as against GH¢ 9,940,822 2018.
He said the restructuring of the Banking Sector by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) which led to the revocations of some institutions’ licenses made some members doubt their ability to survive and this had negative effects on its operations.
"The environment for financial business has been marked with low confidence, increased withdrawal and unstable savings but union was stable and contributed to effective financial intermediation within its catchment area", he added.
The Board Chairman said some of the challenges facing the credit union include excessive savings withdrawal and multiple loan requests which were difficult to recover leading to negative growth of the interest income.
The Chairman of the Board appreciated all stakeholders of the union for their contributions towards its sustainability and assured them that their funds would be protected through good leadership management at all times.
Mr Duodo Kwarteng, Internal Auditor of the Ghana Co-operative Credit Union, commended the efforts of UCC Credit Union for starting from a welfare base to one of the best credit unions in the country and urged them not to be complacent.
He called on Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to help Unions retrieve locked up funds to improve banking services in the country.
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