The Chief Executive Officer of Bank of Kigali, Diane Karusisi, visited the bank's clients in Muhanga on May 4. She checked on their businesses and later dined together, discussing means to improve their services and products. Karusisi said that it is BK’s practice to visit their clients in various districts, to see upcoming projects, and to communicate with the private sector to ensure there are any initiatives to execute together. While addressing approximately 100 clients, including those in the industrial area, private sector, churches, agents, stakeholders, corporate SMEs, and retail, BK staff unveiled new products such as the agribusiness offering, as well as other loans with fair discounts. BK customers interested in building or purchasing affordable homes are now offered an interest rate of 11%—an initiative spearheaded by the government. Karusisi also noted that children have also been taken into consideration as they can save through the ‘Kira Kibondo’ plan to secure their future. She encouraged parents to open up accounts for their children as soon as they’re born so that by the time they access their savings at the age of 18, they can use it for beneficial services such as paying tuition and others. “We are continuing to promote technology, which is why we teach our clients new ways of banking so that they don’t move with huge sums of money as it can easily be stolen,” Karusisi said. She further noted that VIP services will soon be available for clients with large sums of money so as to avoid long queues. Karusisi also explained that BK agents will soon offer all bank services to clients, and people will be able to open accounts from the comfort of their homes, or workplaces and elsewhere. Speaking at the event, Eric Bizimana, the vice mayor in charge of economic development affairs in Muhanga District, emphasised the importance of customer care and the detriments of not providing it. Bizimana thanked BK for their service in developing the country through different policies in finance since they officially opened in Muhanga in 1993, and later extended to Nyanza and Ngororero in 2010. “We have high hills in our district, and we wish to have some branches in Kibumba, which is one of the key centres of our community, as this will help limit the distance covered by people,” he proposed. Benjamin Uwamungu, a businessman in Muhanga and BK customer since 2005, said the bank’s services have improved gradually. “Unlike before where the process of granting loans was long, leaving clients disappointed, today the process of acquiring a loan is swift,” he said. Uwamungu also noted that mobile banking has improved services such as checking one’s savings and bank account balance, transferring funds, requesting cheque books and ATM cards, paying utility bills, and so forth. He also commended BK for sparing time to have conversations with its clients, inquiring about their problems, and devising means to help them, as well as welcoming their feedback to improve or initiate new services. Venuste Niyirora, a BK agent in Kamonyi since 2019, discovered that residents in remote areas couldn’t access BK services easily, thus becoming an agent to allow them to access finance with ease. “People are now able to pay school fees, taxes, Irembo services, withdraw, deposit, pay bills like electricity, and water via agents,” he said.
