Nandom Community Bank has recorded an impressive jump in total assets to 81.83 million Ghana cedis, but stakeholders at its 44th Annual General Meeting have issued a unified, urgent appeal for shareholders to inject fresh capital to meet the Bank of Ghana’s impending 5-million-cedi minimum threshold.

Board Chairman of Nandom Community Bank, Firmino Bergyire Aasoyir, announced that profit before tax rose from 1.71 million cedis in 2024 to 2.10 million cedis in 2025, alongside an exceptional loan recovery rate of 93.67 percent.

Despite these operational gains and a successful rebranding from a rural to a community bank, Aasoyir stressed the need for aggressive mobilisation by the December 2026 regulatory deadline.

“The overall performance shows that the bank maintained strong growth,” Aasoyir stated. “We therefore encourage all shareholders to increase their investment in the bank and support efforts to attract new shareholders so that together we can stand alone as Nandom Community Bank.”

Echoing this urgency, Wa Branch Manager of ARB Apex Bank, Fred Tweneboa, commended the institution’s 19.1 percent growth in profit after tax but delivered a stark regulatory warning.

Representing the acting Managing Director, Mr. Curtis William Welbeck Tweneboa revealed that the bank’s stated capital currently stands at 2.1 million cedis, leaving a critical deficit.

“Failure to bridge the gap within the stipulated timelines may expose the bank to regulatory sanctions, operational limitations, heightened supervisory interventions, or the need to consider alternative strategic options,” Tweneboa cautioned.

Nandom Municipal Chief Executive, Anthony Ziniel, expressed surprise at the board’s decision to declare over 159,000 cedis in dividends rather than reinvesting the funds to close the capital gap.

Ziniel urged residents to buy shares to preserve the local bank and announced a new economic catalyst for the area: the construction of a 24-hour economy market starting this month.

“If this market is completed and put to use, it will increase the economic activities in Nandom, and Nandom Rural Bank must position itself to take advantage if this project becomes operational in about two and half years from now,” MCE Ziniel noted.

Shifting the focus to credit accessibility, Wa West District Chief Executive Richard Wullo appealed for a downward review of lending rates in response to dropping national inflation, aiming to support local farmers and SMEs.

“We are quite aware that the inflation rate has reached an unprecedented low rate,” Wullo said. “I must use this platform to appeal to the board of directors to take cognisance of this feat and, as part of their deliberations, consider the reduction of interest rates for our people to stimulate private-sector investment.”

Demonstrating sector solidarity, Chief Executive Officer of Sunzele Community Bank, Abdul-Sallam Bamie, rallied the crowd to purchase shares, noting that community banks must support one another to survive the ongoing microfinance reforms.

“We see ourselves as one. We operate in the same ecosystem,” Bamie encouraged. “Owning shares in the community bank sector, as you can all see, comes with the payment of dividends. Nandom Community Bank did very well in 2025, and… will do even far better in the year 2026.”

Crowning the event, the Paramount Chief of the Nandom Traditional Area, Naa Professor Edmund Nminyem Delle Chiir VIII, painted a bright picture for the municipality’s future, promising a massive influx of global and government projects within three to four years—contingent entirely on the community remaining united.

“Today is for Nandom. Nandom shall rise. Nandom shall never fall,” Naa Prof. Delle declared. “I plead with you that my motto is clear and let’s stick to it. I said let’s come together as Nandom, and let there be peace in Nandom. Keep paramount peace. Development will not be a problem.”