BK profits drop

Bank of Kigali (BK), Rwanda’s biggest commercial bank in terms of assets reported a drop in profits for the first six months of 2010 following huge expenditure on infrastructure. The bank’s financial results indicate that its profit after tax slid by 24.1 percent to Rwf 2.2 billion in the first half of this year compared to Rwf 2.9 billion during the same period last year. BK’s Marketing Manager, Januario Mucyo, says they made huge investments in infrastructure including branch expansion and Automated Teller Machines (ATM).“So far we have 26 ATM machines on the ground and another 20 will be delivered in the last week of October,” Mucyo said. The Bank targets Rwf 6 billion in net profits by the end of the year. Last year BK’s net profit plunged to Rwf 5.2 billion from Rwf 5.6 billion in the previous year. Mucyo also revealed that the Bank is set to launch a Call Centre with Customer Relationship Management (CRM). “We are also set to introduce an electronic queue management system, enhancement of retail banking to include Micro financing in a way of consolidating our position within Rwanda’s banking industry.” Last year BK emerged as the best performing financial institution in the country, accounting for 70 percent of the net profit achieved by commercial banks operating in Rwanda. Ends

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BK profits drop