Maurice Toroitich has been appointed as the new Chief executive officer of BPR. The appointment, which was approved by the board of directors of BPR Atlas Mara is effective September 1, 2017.

The former head of KCB-bank Rwanda replaces Sanjeev Anand who was posted as the group managing director in charge of retail and commercial banking operations of Atlas Mara.

Commenting about his appointment Toroitich said he will put more emphasis on product development, innovation and digitisation to further enhance efficiency in terms of service delivery.

Toroitich has over 20 years experience in retail and corporate banking and before his appointment he had served as the Managing Director of KCB Bank Rwanda for over 8 years.

He also holds an MBA from Strathmore Business School in Nairobi and a Bachelor of Commerce in accounting from the University of Nairobi in addition to professional qualifications.

"The management is excited to have Maurice on-board who will drive both the day-to-day business and ensure that the long-term goals of BPR remain on path of achievement and are unobstructed, and I take this opportunity to wish him all the best upon his new appointment,” Sanjeev said.

The Bank recently scooped the "best bank” award in Rwanda at annual the Banker Africa 2017 awards for the East African region held in Nairobi, Kenya.

Sanjeev, the outgoing chief executive officer, said the bank recognizes innovation as a key ingredient towards boosting financial inclusion and recognises the bank’s efforts toward embracing innovation and technology to enhance efficiency and product development.

Anand said the bank has invested heavily in capacity building, and digitized its systems to improve service delivery and consumer confidence.

He is therefore confident that his predecessor Toroitich will do a great job.

New Branch unveiled

Meanwhile, the bank unveiled a new branch located at Kisimenti, a Kigali suburb.

The new branch is part of the bank’s strategy to bring its services closer to its customers, said Toroitich.

Atlas Mara invested more than $20.4 million (about Rwf15.4billion) in BPR and merged it with BRD Commercial Bank Ltd, part of Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD) in 2014 as part of a strategy to boost financial inclusion.

In April 2015 Atlas Mara Limited acquired minority shares in BPR and later in 2016 merged BPR with the commercial wing of the Development Bank of Rwanda (BRDC) that it had acquired in 2014 giving Atlas Mara the controlling stake of 62.1% of shares.

The bank is now the second largest commercial bank by total assets, and largest bank in Rwanda by customer base and branch network.

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