BPR to roll-out Mobile Banking

Banque Populaire du Rwanda (BPR), the largest bank by branch network in the country, is set to roll-out Mobile Banking by the end of August, Business Times has learnt. The new product will enable the bank’s clients to access banking and financial services using a mobile phone.BPR’s CEO, Ben Kalkman, said that the ongoing pilot phase is showing positive results. “The service will enable BPR’s clients to transfer, send and receive money from different places around the country in partnership with MTN Rwanda,” Kalkman said. Mobile Banking has been successful in many parts of the world where there is minimal infrastructure development such as remote and rural areas. The service is also very popular in countries where not many people use bank accounts. Banks expect the move to attract more clients. Kalkman added that the Bank is in the process of linking up all their 188 branches to one network by 2011. BPR has attributed limited access to internet and electricity as the reason why their branches are not interconnected electronically. “We cannot connect more branches than what Rwandatel and MTN (Internet service Providers) can deliver and the alternatives like satellite links are too expensive,” Kalkman said. He added that four more branches have, this year, been linked to the same network, bringing the total number to 28. BPR is yet to release its 2009 financial statement and according to Kalkman, the fact that data processing is done manually means that, a lot of time is required. Netherlands based RABOBANK holds 35 percent of equity in BPR while the former cooperative members own 65 percent. Ends

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BPR to roll-out Mobile Banking