I&M Bank Rwanda’s net interest revenue recorded an 8 percent increase to Rwf22 billion in 2019 from Rwf20.2 billion in 2018. Robin Bairstow, the Bank’s Chief Executive Officer, said growth was driven by new businesses on-boarded from personal and business customers across all market segments. “Our credit portfolio saw growth mainly driven by strong business initiatives in key potential areas and strategic partnerships agreements, while maintaining excellent credit quality,” he said in a statement. The Bank’s revenues, operating income, for the period under review also increased to Rwf27.4 billion from Rwf25.7 billion. The Bank, one of the oldest banks in Rwanda, attributed the performance to increased investment in technology and product diversification. “Our performance in 2019 highlights our continued progress toward our strategic goal of broadening and diversifying our revenue base,” Bairstow said. Among others, the Bank says it made investment in the core banking system to enable the Bank provide its customers a wider-range of products and improved turnaround times. Bairstow highlighted that the Bank’s investment in digital banking continues with an aim to create an enhanced customer experience and in 2020 the focus will be particular to assure uninterrupted service and provide simplicity and convenience to our loyal customer in the face of current global events like the coronavirus pandemic. “Product leadership and operational efficiency remains our drive to deliver value to all stakeholders,” he added. However, I&M Bank’s bottom line decreased to Rwf6.1 billion in 2019, down from Rwf7.5 billion realized a year before. This was attributed to initiatives taken by the Bank to strengthen its human capital and uplift its technological readiness. It is worth noting the impairment charges decreased by 56 percent from Rwf1 billion in 2018 to Rwf463 million in 2019.
