Growth in customer deposits and increased funding from global financing institutions were the major drivers of Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD) strong performance last year.

The development financier recorded a 64.5 per cent increase in pretax profit last year to Rwf5b from Rwf3b in 2012, it indicated in the 2013 financial statement released yesterday.

Customer deposits grew to Rwf17.2b from Rwf5.8b year-on-year while loans and advances went up to Rwf119.75b from Rwf85.2b in the same period the previous year.

Alex Kanyankole, the Development Bank of Rwanda chief executive officer, attributed the increase in customer deposits to the growing demand for mortgage financing.

"Most of the deposits come from clients seeking finance to acquire their own homes, which require them to save up to 30 per cent of the total loan,” he explained.

Kanyankole added that after the bank secured a $10m (about Rwf6.8b) credit line from Shelter-Afrique, a pan-African finance institution last year, the bank has been able to facilitate more people to acquire affordable housing.

The bank’s mortgage interest rate is at between 15 and 16 per cent, which is lower than the average market rate.

Kanyankole added that the bank also other credit lines last year to finance micro-finance institutions, allowing them to lend more to small-and-medium enterprises.

He assured clients that the pending acquisition of a controlling stake of 75 per cent in the bank by Atlas-Mara Investment Company would "enable the bank grow in terms of having more strategic outlooks and coming up with a revamped business model that will ensure streamlined operations”.