President Paul Kagame has received Andrew Kairu, the Chairman of KCB Group and his delegation who are in Kigali for the official launch of BPR Bank Rwanda Plc following the merger of KCB Rwanda and Banque Populaire du Rwanda (BPR).

Rwanda’s Presidency has revealed that the Head of State hosted Kairu at Village Urugwiro in the afternoon of Thursday 5th May 2022 but did not point out topics of discussions.

The recent merger of operations saw the two banks operating as a single entity named BPR Bank Rwanda Plc, with KCB Group as the majority shareholder.

The acquisition of majority shareholding of BPR was successfully completed in August 2021, through outright purchase of Atlas Mara and Arise B.V. shares to a tune of US$32 million, following approvals from both financial sector regulators in Kenya and Rwanda.

The combined bank became the second largest bank in the Rwanda banking industry and gives KCB Group a stronger edge in deepening the ongoing Group strategy to scale regional presence.

The group’s total shares of BPR Bank Rwanda Plc currently stand at 87.5% while the remaining 12.5% belong to local shareholders.

According to KCB Group Chairman, Andrew Kairu, the merge has created ’a strong bank in Rwanda which will serve the community better and more efficiently’.

To ensure that this happens, he revealed, the will continue leveraging its technology prowess and increased scale to drive financial inclusion, and bank the unbanked in Rwanda.

As he officiated the official launch of BPR Bank Rwanda Plc at t Kigali Convention Center on Wednesday 4th May 2022, Rwanda’s Prime Minister, Dr. Edouard Ngirente commended the banking sector for its role in Rwanda’s economic recovery efforts from Covid-19.

In this regard, he appreciated the flexibility of commercial banks in restructuring loans for clients as part of measures to help them to cope with the adverse effects of the pandemic.

The Premier invited actors in the banking sector to partner with the Government of Rwanda in supporting the agriculture as one of the key sector that contributes a lot to ‘our economy’.

He also commended the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) Group for continued investment of resources in Rwanda and noted that its merger with Banque Populaire du Rwanda (BPR) will be very crucial in providing various financial products and services to our population and improve the quality of their life.

Among others, Premier Ngirente reiterated the commitment of the Government of Rwanda to create an enabling environment for the financial sector in Rwanda and ensure that the majority of un-banked Rwandan population has access to banking services at affordable cost.
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