The collapse of Ghanaian banks in recent times has been blame on low compliance with Corporate Governance Standards. This study examined the compliance level of rural banks with the Corporate Governance Standards. It again assessed the distress levels of rural banks in the Bono Region; and finally, analyzed the impact of Corporate Governance Standards on financial performance of rural banks in the Bono Region. Secondary data was obtained from banks’ annual financial statements. Banks’ financial performance was measured using both Return on Asset (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE). The Altman’s Z-Score was also used to examine their distress levels. Primary data was collected from fifty-five (55) randomly selected board members across all the eleven rural banks, using questionnaires to assess their level of compliance. All data collected covered five years (2015-2019). STATA Software was used to perform Fixed Effect and Random Effect Estimation while the Hausman Test was used to choose the Random Effect Estimation. The results showed that rural banks in the Bono Region complied with the Corporate Governance Standards at acceptable levels. Generally, rural banks in the Bono Region were found unlikely to be financially distressed. It was also revealed that compliance with Corporate Governance Standards had significant positive impact on both Return on Asset and Return on Equity, hence confirming the Alternate hypothesis of the study. It is recommended to the Bank of Ghana to intensify its supervisory roles over rural banks especially those in the Bono Region. It is also suggested that a further study be done on the effect of corporate governance on the performance of commercial banks in Ghana.