KCB Rwanda, a subsidiary of Kenya Commercial Bank Group ,has reported an increase of 64.8 per cent in earnings before tax for the first three months of this year on the back of an increased deposit pool and customer base.For the first three months of 2012, the bank returned a profit before tax of Rwf89 million compared to Rwf54 million at the same period last year, representing a 64.8 per cent increase.The bank’s total assets grew by Rwf66 billion in the first quarter of this year, a 46 per cent increase from Rwf45 billion last year."The growth is driven by a strong growth in our customer base, where the deposit pool grew by Rwf19.8 billion from Rwf30.6 billion as at the end of March last year to Rwf50.4 billion this year,” KCB Rwanda’s Managing Director, Maurice Toroitich said in a financial statement.Toroitich also noted that the lender’s loans and advances to customers increased by 113 per cent from Rwf18.4 billion to Rwf39.1 billion, as end of March this year."The bank has managed its growth momentum due to overall growth in the various businesses of the bank particularly our customer base and deposits as well as our as our lending and transactional operations”The ordinary retail and corporate banking services, agency banking, mobile phone banking, Microbanking as well as the mortgage and global custody service, have recorded tremendous growth since their respective launch dates."The bank’s foreign exchange trading operations also exhibited marked growth during the first three months driven by an increase in normal client operations,” Toroitich explained.He however warned that the rising cost of funds in the money market due to inflation, would impact on the net asset yields in subsequent quarters.He added that due to growth in business operations and inflationary pressures, the lender’s operating expenditure increased by 32 per cent