BPR Bank Rwanda PLC (BPR PLC; rw, Banki y'Abaturage y'u Rwanda), formerly Banque Populaire du Rwanda SA, is a

commercial bank A commercial bank is a financial institution which accepts deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make profit. It can also refer to a bank, or a division of a large bank, which deals with cor ...

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

. The bank is licensed by the

National Bank of Rwanda The National Bank of Rwanda ( rw, Banki Nkuru Y'u Rwanda, french: Banque Nationale du Rwanda) is the central bank of Rwanda. The bank was founded in 1964. The current governor of the bank is John Rwangombwa. Location It is quartered at the N ...

, the

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union, and oversees their commercial banking system. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central ba ...

and national banking regulator.

Overview

BPR is a retail (consumer) bank, offering products that include current and savings accounts, debit and credit cards, mortgages and loans. The bank offers consumer banking tools like

mobile banking Mobile banking is a service provided by a bank or other financial institution that allows its customers to conduct financial transactions remotely using a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet. Unlike the related internet banking it uses ...

, as well as agricultural business expertise to corporate customers in the food and agri-business value chain. , BPR Bank Rwanda Plc was a large financial services provider in Rwanda. Its total asset valuation was RWF:648 billion (US$642 million), with 154 networked branches. In 2016, BPR employed about 1,400 staff at that time. However, following the acquisition by Atlas Mara, and the merger with BRD Commercial, about 300 people were terminated. In 2021,

KCB Group KCB Group Limited, also known as the KCB Group, is a financial services holding company based in the African Great Lakes region. The Group's headquarters are in Nairobi, Kenya, with its subsidiaries being KCB Bank Kenya Limited, KCB Bank Burundi L ...

successfully completed the acquisition of Banque Populaire du Rwanda Plc (BPR) from Atlas Mara Mauritius Limited and Arise B.V. In 2022, in line with its strategy for expansion and enhanced financial inclusion across the region, KCB Group successfully amalgamated Banque Populaire du Rwanda and KCB Bank Rwanda Plc to form BPR Bank Rwanda Plc. The success of this merger makes BPR Bank Rwanda Plc the second largest bank in the Rwanda banking industry. It is reported that KCB Group spent about KSh:6.3 billion (approx. US$55 million) in the acquisition process.

History

The origins of the bank can be traced back to 1975, when the first Banque Populaire du Rwanda was formed in the settlement of Nkamba, in the city of

Kibungo Kibungo is a town in the Republic of Rwanda. It is the political, administrative and commercial capital of Ngoma District. In 1998, Kibungo became the site of at least four of Rwanda's last 22 executions. All of the convicts were executed for crim ...

, Eastern Province. Over the next ten years, many other similar banks were founded around the country. In 1986, the various autonomous Banques Populaires formed an umbrella called the Union des Banques Populaires du Rwanda (UBPR). UBPR was operated as a cooperative bank. In January 2008, following 33 years of experience in the Rwandan financial sector, UBPR was transformed from a

cooperative bank Cooperative banking is retail and commercial banking organized on a cooperative basis. Cooperative banking institutions take deposits and lend money in most parts of the world. Cooperative banking, as discussed here, includes retail banking carr ...

into a commercial bank: Banque Populaire du Rwanda S.A. In June 2008,

Rabobank Rabobank (; full name: ''Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A.'') is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Utrecht, Netherlands. The group comprises 89 local Dutch Rabobanks (2019), a central organisation (Raboban ...

, the Dutch cooperative banking conglomerate, acquired 35 percent of the shares in BPR. In July 2012,

Visa Inc. Visa Inc. (; stylized as ''VISA'') is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in San Francisco, California. It facilitates electronic funds transfers throughout the world, most commonly through Visa-branded cred ...

certified the bank to issue visa-branded debit and credit cards. In January 2016, Atlas Mara completed its acquisition of a controlling stake of BPR after acquiring shares from existing shareholders and merging the bank with the commercial banking business that was spun off

Rwanda Development Bank Development Bank of Rwanda, commonly referred to by its French name Banque Rwandaise de Développement (BRD), is a development bank in Rwanda. It is one of the banks licensed by the National Bank of Rwanda, the national banking regulator. Ove ...

. In April 2019,

Equity Bank Group Equity Group Holdings Limited (EGHL), formerly Equity Bank Group, is a financial services holding company based in the African Great Lakes region. EGHL's headquarters are in Nairobi, Kenya, with subsidiaries in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sud ...

, the second largest banking conglomerate by assets in

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

, unveiled plans to acquire 62 percent of Banque Populaire du Rwanda, in a share swap with the

Atlas Mara Limited Atlas Mara Limited, formerly referred to as Atlas Mara Co-Nvest Limited, is a financial services holding company formed to undertake the acquisition of target banks in Africa. The Group's headquarters are located in Tortola, British Virgin Island ...

. Negotiations between Equity Group and Atlas Mara were terminated in July 2020 when the parties failed to reach agreement on the valuation of the transaction. The

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

contributed to the complexity of the negotiations.

Ownership

the bank's

stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...

was owned by the following shareholders, as outlined in the table below:

Branch network

As of May 2022, BPR Bank Plc maintained a network of 154 full-service branches, and over 100 ATMs in all Regions of Rwanda.

Governance

The activities of BPR Bank Plc are supervised by a seven-member

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

representing commercial activities, operations, risk and the branch network, headed by the CEO. The current

chairman of the board The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

is George Rubagumya. The day-to-day affairs of the bank are managed by a ten-member executive team, led by the CEO, George Odhiambo.

References

External links

''Presentation''
on BPR mobile banking

As of 7 January 2016. {{Economy of Rwanda Banks of Rwanda Banks established in 1975 1975 establishments in Rwanda Organisations based in Kigali Economy of Kigali