MTN Rwanda and Bank of Kigali have formed a partnership to increase access to mobile financial service and financial inclusion.

The initiative will help link clients’ mobile money wallets to their bank accounts.

"This means that they can ‘pull’ money from their bank accounts into their mobile money wallets or push money from their wallets to their Bank of Kigali accounts automatically,” Ebenezer Asante, the MTN chief executive officer, said, calling the partnership a milestone that will boost mobile money penetration in Rwanda.

"We continuously strive to find opportunities that ease customers’ lives. The partnership with Bank of Kigali will strengthen our ongoing efforts to improve access to financial services for our customers,” Asante said.

He added that the deal will enable customers of both firms to access various innovative financial services under the mobile money platform. This will help support government efforts to deepen financial inclusion in the country and promote a cashless economy, he said.

Asante said the collaboration with Bank of Kigali forms part of MTN and the bank’s renewed focus to deliver a distinct customer experience by providing value-added products and services.

James Gatera, the Bank of Kigali chief executive officer, said the financial institution is committed to bringing innovative financial services to the Rwandan people.

"We believe the partnership with MTN will further strengthen our offering of mobile banking and financial inclusion solutions,” Gatera said.

MTN Mobile Money enables users to perform local money transfers, make utility and other service payments, purchase airtime and access a wide range of mobile financial products.

As of December 2014, out of the 3.8 million subscribers that MTN has, 85 per cent of them are registered on the mobile money platform.

With the deal, Bank of Kigali customers can now use the MTN service centres and MTN Mobile Money agents to first load their wallets and then push the funds from their wallets to their bank accounts.

On the other hand, the customer can indirectly load their wallets by depositing in their bank accounts at any of the Bank of Kigali branches, mobile vans and agents country wide.

"Bank of Kigali continues to show its commitment to promoting financial inclusion in Rwanda through a number of innovative financial solutions, with the ‘push and pull’ service via MTN Mobile Money just being one of them,” Gatera said.

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