The Board of Directors of the Tamale Community Co-operative Credit Union Limited (TCCCU) has approved a 30 per cent dividend to be paid on the shares of members of the Union. The decision was taken after the TCCCU recorded a net surplus of GHc793,492.90 for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2023. Mr Wekem Raymond Avatim, the Chairman of the Board of Directors, TCCCU, who announced this, said 'Although this is a five per cent decrease from the previous 35 per cent, the Board of Directors is of the view that reallocating this five per cent to augment the building reserves to 20 per cent, will provide sufficient funds to the TCCCU office building'. Mr Avatim made the announcement while delivering the Board's Report at the TCCCU's 16th Annual General Meeting, held in Tamale. He gave details of the performance of the TCCCU during the financial year ending December 31, 2023, saying 'Our loan witnessed a significant increase of 28 per cent, rising from over GHc5.8 million in July 2023 to over GHS eight millio n by the end of July 2024'. He said the capital adequacy of the TCCCU as of July 2024 improved to 47 per cent, a substantial increase from 38 per cent in July 2024 and well above the Credit Union Association's (CUA) standard of 20 per cent. He said 95 per cent of the total income generated during the financial year came from interest on loans. Mr Avatim expressed dissatisfaction about the rate of loan servicing because their main source of income being interest on loans, the TCCCU continued to face a high loan default rate. Although there had been a slight improvement in the default rate from nine per cent in July 2023 to eight per cent in July 2024, these rates remained high, exceeding the CUA standard of no more than five per cent of loans disbursed, he said. Meanwhile, the AGM elected a new seven-member Board of Directors, chaired by Mr David Isaka, to steer the affairs of the TCCCU for the next four years. Two other committees, Supervisory, and Loans, comprising three members each, were also constit uted. Source: Ghana News Agency