Increasing attention is being given in both public and private forums to the concern of how the growing Diasporas from the developing world could promote development in their homelands. Experts argue that diaspora involvement in development opportunities in the homeland has increased significantly over the past decade. However, as the diaspora community continues to expand their business reach to their home developing countries, it has become critical for banks to strengthen their offering, especially with products designed to meet both their personal and business needs. For Bank of Kigali (BK), the move has seemed an opportune moment to revamp its existing offering, particularly providing solutions to the diaspora community who may want to save, invest or send money to their families in Rwanda. In search for a sneak peek into the development, The New Times’ Edwin Ashimwe spoke to Diane Karusisi, the Bank’s CEO, on a number of insights including perception of risk, foreign exchange-rates, time-frame for profit expectations among others. Excerpts, Bank of Kigali recently introduced a revamped version of its Diaspora Banking Offering. Would you like to disclose any details? Over the years, with the developments we have seen in the banking sector globally, we felt it was the right time to revamp the diaspora offering, with new products. Also in line with the feedback we have been getting from our clients, to develop new products and design new ways of working with clients that are based outside the country. What is also very special is that we set up a dedicated team that will be in charge of diaspora clients because we want them to get special attention and be treated as VIPs. Are there any new services to entice a member of the Rwandan Diaspora who regularly sends money back home or is thinking about investing in Rwanda to take Bank of Kigali upon its offer? We already had incentives but we added a number of new products. For instance, our clients can have term deposits in foreign currency such as dollars in particular, because this is one of the requests we have been having from clients. We also want to offer them new ways of sending money back home but also investing in Rwanda. Because we know many of them are looking for properties, we want to offer them very attractive rates for people who want mortgages. Beyond investing in properties people can invest in capital markets, we have people who can advise them if they want to be BK shareholders for instance, which is a good investment. But we also have new products like the Aguka Fund, which is a unit trust fund for people who want to invest short and long term and get a very good return. Currently, all over the world, rates are the lowest. In Europe, rates are negative. So investing in cash instruments in Europe doesn’t make sense because you actually pay to be able to invest. Here in Rwanda, we can offer attractive rates. Because they have a link with the home country, we want them to be part of the economic development of the country. Majority of the complaints have previously centered on the fact that most, if not all, local banks don’t give access to savings accounts in US Dollars. Others have also pinpointed that mortgages in US Dollars are impossible to have with Rwandan banks. How does the new offering relieve such clients? So the main thing is that most people were not able to place term deposits in foreign currency such as dollars. With the revamped offering, we are telling them that if you have foreign currency and you don’t want to invest in local currency you can save and get an interest of up to 1.5 percent in dollars which is a very good interest compared to global rates. BK is also now providing to eligible diaspora clients mortgage loans in USD repayable up to 20 years. In addition, we are telling them that when you send money home you don’t have to pay any charge and you can even negotiate foreign exchange rate. Are you inclined to comment on your client’s feedback so far? We are already getting good feedback in particular because we have a designated team that is in charge of communicating and managing diaspora customers. As you might know, it is a period of holidays, we have a number of people from the diaspora here in Rwanda for holidays and we are seeing a lot of interest, people asking questions and procedure to open accounts and information on investment opportunities. We see good response and we hope that this will continue with the same trend. While most investors in emerging markets have a fairly short timeframe for profit expectations, many diaspora investors are willing to capture return on their investments over a longer period. Can BK customers have access to such projects? Today, with construction projects such as affordable housing and even residential housing in Rwanda, we see many projects and we are enticing our clients. If you want to buy property in Rwanda, this is the right time you should approach the Diaspora Banking unit, and inquire about the procedure. I think it’s always a good time to own a property in Rwanda. If anyone can secure a plot of land or a property, it’s a very good investment. What would you say are the most efficient steps to open a BK account for a Rwandan living abroad, especially in the wake of increasing cyber fraudsters? What you need to do is go to our website www.bk.rw, we have a form that you will need to fill in, we will also need a copy of your National ID and one passport photo, you will need to get the documents notarized by the embassy for us to be sure that it is actually authentic. After that, the client will send all this documentation to a provided email diasporabanking@bk.rw then the account will be set up with all the credentials sent back to the customer and you will be able to transact. How long does a Diaspora client have to Bank with BK before being able to apply for a loan? As soon as you are our client you can apply for any of the facilities, of course you have a current account, you can get a savings account but you can also apply for a facility. Of course terms and conditions will apply, we will request a couple of documents to look at your credit score and the viability of your future payment, if the credit committee is willing to give you a certain amount we will be more than happy to provide the services. What are the main areas of business that the Diaspora community normally spends their money? The bigger diaspora community would send money back home to support families especially now that people are going through difficult periods. The past year and a half has been quite challenging for most families in Rwanda, so we want to make it very easy and cheap for people who are in the Diaspora to support families. But beyond that, we want our clients to understand that Rwanda is also a destination for investment. We want them to know that they can make money. They can transfer savings to Rwanda and there are investment instruments that will help them make money and build wealth in Rwanda.
