Bank of Kigali (BK) is a

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

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

. It is licensed by the

National Bank of Rwanda The National Bank of Rwanda (, ) is the central bank of Rwanda. The bank was founded in 1964. The current governor of the bank is Soraya Munyana Hakuziyaremye. Location It is quartered at the National Bank of Rwanda Building, on KN6 Avenue in ...

Location

The headquarters and main branch of the bank are located at 6112 KN4 Avenue, in

Nyarugenge District Nyarugenge is a district (''akarere'') in Kigali Province, Rwanda. Its heart is the city centre of Kigali (which is towards the west of the urban area and the province), and contains most of the city's businesses. Sectors Nyarugenge district ...

, in the city of

Kigali Kigali () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali is a relativ ...

, the capital and largest city in Rwanda. The geographical coordinates of the bank's headquarters are: 01°56'54.0"S, 30°03'35.0"E (Latitude:-1.948333; Longitude:30.059722).

Overview

Bank of Kigali is the largest commercial bank in Rwanda, by total assets. As of 31 December 2019, the bank's total assets were valued at US$1,1059 million, with a loan book of $735.8 million, customer deposits of $697.4 million and shareholders equity of US$239.6 million. On 29 September 2017, Global Credit Ratings affirmed Bank of Kigali Limited's long-term and short-term national scale ratings of AA-(RW) and A1+(RW) respectively; with a stable outlook. The bank has won several back to back international and regional "Best Bank in Rwanda" awards, including from EuroMoney, The Banker, ''Global Finance Magazine'', and EMEA Finance.

History

The bank was incorporated in the Republic of Rwanda on 22 December 1966. Initially Bank of Kigali was founded as a joint venture between the Government of Rwanda and Banque Belgolaise, with each owning 50 percent of the ordinary share capital. In 1967, the bank commenced its operations with its first branch in Kigali. By then, Belgolaise was a subsidiary of

Fortis Group Fortis N.V./S.A., was a Benelux-centered global financial services group active in insurance, banking and investment management, initially formed in 1990 by a three-way Belgian-Dutch merger and headquartered in Brussels. It grew rapidly through m ...

, operating in Sub-Saharan Africa but in 2005 began to withdraw from its operations in Africa in line with Fortis' strategy. In 2007 the Government of Rwanda acquired the Belgolaise shareholding in Bank of Kigali, thereby increasing its direct and indirect shareholding in the bank to 100% of the entire Issued Shares. In 2011, the bank changed its name under the new law relating to companies from Bank of Kigali S.A to Bank of Kigali Limited. On 21 June 2011, the Rwandan Capital Market Advisory Council approved plans for the bank to float 45 percent of its shares and list its shares on the

Rwanda Stock Exchange Rwanda Stock Exchange Limited (RSE) is a Rwandan Stock Exchange and was incorporated on 7 October 2005. The Stock Exchange was demutualized from the start as it was registered as a company limited by shares. The company was officially launched o ...

(RSE), becoming the second domestic company to list on the RSE in a US$62.5 million initial public offering. Trading in the shares of the bank started on 30 June 2011. In December 2012, regional media reports indicated that the bank was in the middle of an expansion into neighboring

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

. In February 2013, the bank received regulatory approval to open an office in

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

. While regional expansion was a top priority under former CEO James Gatera, his successor, Diane Karusisi, has hinted that her focus is on further deepening the bank's roots at home to tap into what still remains a largely formally un-banked population. According to FinScope's survey on access to finance in Rwanda, out of 4 million adult Rwandans who have access to formal financial services, only 1.5 million adults or 26 percent of the total, use banks, with only slightly over 60,600 adults of the 1.5 million exclusively relying on banks; others have alternatives outside banking. In May 2018, at the bank's Annual General Meeting, the shareholders' approved plans to cross-list the

stock Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the Share (finance), shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporatio ...

of the bank on the

Nairobi Stock Exchange The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) was established in 1954 as the Nairobi Stock Exchange, based in Nairobi the capital of Kenya. It was a voluntary association of stockbrokers in the European community registered under the Societies Act in ...

(NSE), the largest in the

East African Community The East African Community (EAC) is an intergovernmental organisation in East Africa. The EAC's membership consists of eight states: Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Federal Republic of Somalia, the Republics of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, S ...

. The cross-listing and the planned

rights issue A rights issue or rights offer is a dividend of subscription rights to buy additional securities in a company made to the company's existing security holders. When the rights are for equity securities, such as shares, in a public company, it can ...

, both planned during the second half of 2018, are expected to raise US$70 million, to be deployed on the acquisition of new, improved ICT systems ($20 million), with the rest deployed in loans to support infrastructure projects at home. In October 2018, the

EastAfrican ''The EastAfrican'' is a weekly newspaper published in Kenya since 7 November 1994, by the Nation Media Group, which also publishes Kenya's national ''Daily Nation''. The ''EastAfrican'' also circulates in the other countries of the African Grea ...

, a regional

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

newspaper reported that the stock of Bank of Kigali was expected to list on the Nairobi stock exchange on 30 November 2018.

Branch network

As of December 2018, the bank maintained 79 networked branches, nearly 100

automated teller machine An automated teller machine (ATM) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, funds transfers, balance inquiries or account ...

s, more than 1,427 banking agents, six mobile banking vans and employed over 1,200 staff.

Governance

The bank is supervised by a

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

led by chairman of the board, a position currently held by Marc Holtzman. The day-to-day activities of the bank are administered by a six-person executive management team headed by the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

, Dr. Diane Karusisi.

Shareholding

The shares of Stock of the bank's holding company, Bank of Kigali Group Plc, are primarily listed on the

and are cross-listed on the

. , the ownership of the bank's

stood as depicted in the table below: * Note:Totals may be slightly off due to rounding.

References

External links

Bank of Kigali website

{{Authority control Banks of Rwanda Organisations based in Kigali Economy of Kigali Banks established in 1966 1966 establishments in Rwanda