Rwanda’s leading lender Bank of Kigali (BK) last week reported a surge in net income of Rwf6 billion ($9.8 million) in the first half in 2012, representing an increase of 54.5 percent.The lender announced that the total assets grew by 3.2 per cent quarter on quarter and 26.9 per cent year on year (8.7 per cent) to Rwf312.8 billion ($510.8 million) as at 30 June 2012. "Net loans rose by 7.7 per cent quarter on quarter and 28.1 per cent year on year (15.8 year) to RwF142.6 billion (US$ 232.9 million) as at 30 June 2012,” the bank’s officials announced."Client balances and deposits increased by 3.0 percent quarter on quarter and 19.1 per cent year on year (15.8 per cent) to Rwf209.7 billion (US$ 342.4million) as at 30 June 2012.”Shareholders’ equity decreased by 2.4 per cent quarter on quarter due to dividend distribution for the year ended 2011 and 82 per cent year on year (2.7 per cent) to Rwf63.3 billion ($103.3 million) as at 30 June 2012."We are pleased with the bank’s year to date performance as well as the performance this quarter. We were able to launch a total of 12 branches by the end of June 2012 and deploy deposit-taking ATMs which enable customers to deposit money on their account on real time basis without using envelopes; the deployment of this technology is the first in Africa, outside South Africa,” BK’s Chief Executive Officer, James Gatera said.Gatera noted that during the quarter, the lender also entered into partnership with two local telecom companies MTN and Tigo to provide mobile money services in all its branches."In addition, our mobile bill payment platform, mPay, was brought to the market and, in another first for Bank of Kigali, we launched our VISA Gold credit cards and VISA prepaid cards. In the next half of the year, we will continue to expand our retail product offering and we expect the strong performance and balance sheet growth to continue.” stated James Gatera, Chief Executive Officer."Client balances and deposits reached Rwf 209.7 billion, recording an increase of 15.8 percent quarter on quarter and 19.1 percent year on year (up 15.8 percent YTD) while shareholders’ equity equalled Rwf63.3 billion, down 2.4 percent quarter on quarter and up 82.0 percent year on year (up 2.7 percent YTD) as at 30 June 2012,” BK’s financial statement noted.