---

The ARB Apex Bank Ltd is a mini Central Bank in Ghana for the Rural/ Community Banks (RCBs) financed mainly through the Rural Financial Services Project (RFSP), which is a Government of Ghana project to holistically address the operational bottlenecks of the rural financial sector with the aim of broadening and deepening financial intermediation in the rural areas. The idea of rural banking was conceived some 32 years ago by the Bank of Ghana when it opened a dialogue with the Ministry of Finance about what was called junior league of banking institutions to serve the special needs of the rural population in Ghana. At the time, the traditional licenced banking institutions were all structured, equipped and managed as city-centered institutions with their clients mostly in the export/import business and in the mining sector. It was, therefore, necessary to bring the rural population into the banking system under rules designed to suit their socio-economic circumstances and the

---