Banque Populaire du Rwanda

Overview

The bank is one of the thirteen licensed commercial banks in the Republic of Rwanda. Banque Populaire du Rwanda (BPR) is commonly known to focus on retail (consumer) banking activities (current and savings, accounts, loans, etc. and consumer banking tools like mobile banking), as well as agricultural business expertise, with corporate customers in the food and agri-business value chain - in-line with their farming/cooperative foundation and involvement Rabobank as a shareholder.

As of October 2015, BPR was a medium-sized financial services provider in Rwanda. Its total asset valuation was approximately US$325 million. At that time, shareholding in the bank was valued at about US$50 million. The bank focused its lending to businesses in the agricultural sector. It employed 1,477 staff at that time.

History

The origins of the bank can be traced back to 1975, when the first Banque Populaire was formed in the settlement of Nkamba, in the cityof Kibungo, 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 into a commercial bank: Banque Populaire du Rwanda S.A. In June 2008, Rabobank, theDutch cooperative banking conglomerate, acquired 35 percent of the shares in BPR. In July 2012, Visa Inc. 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 BRD.

Ownership

Branch network

BPR has a countrywide network of 191 bank locations, 103 ATMs, 250,000 ATM cards users and 240,000 subscribers on mobile banking, 1400 staff, 100,000 credit files and 400,000 active clients.

As of February 2011, BPR maintains a branch network of eighteen (18) main branches around the country and many sub-branches and outlets:

1. Main Branch - Kigali
2. BPF Branch - Kigali
3. Kimironko Branch - Kigali
4. Muhima Branch - Kigali
5. Rwezamenyo Branch - Kigali
6. Muhanga Branch - Muhanga
7. Musanze Branch - Musanze
8. Rusizi Branch - Rusizi
9. Gicumbi Branch - Gicumbi
10. Rubavu Branch - Rubavu
11. Ngoma Branch - Ngoma
12. Huye Branch - Huye
13. Rwamagana Branch - Rwamagana
14. Karongi Branch - Karongi
15. Nyamagabe Branch - Nyamagabe
16. Nyagatare Branch - Nyagatare
17. Bugesera Branch - Bugesera
18. Nyanza Branch - Nyanza

Directors

The activities of Banque Populaire du Rwanda are supervised by an eight-member Board of Directors. The current chairman of the board is John Vitalo.

Management board

The day-to-day activities of the bank are administered by an executive management board representing commercial activities, operations, risk and the branch network, headed by the Managing Director, (MD). The current MD is Sanjeev Anand.