The BK Group registered Rwf55.1 billion profit in the first nine months of 2023, a 26.7 percent increase year-on-year, with the third quarter of 2023 contributing Rwf18.2 billion after-tax profit. ALSO READ: BK Group registers Rwf28.3bn profit in six months The performance announced on November 29 is attributed to quality services provided across subsidiaries including Bank of Kigali, BK General Insurance, BK TecHouse, and BK Capital. Béata Habyarimana, the CEO of BK Group, said that the performance comes at a time when Rwanda is recording economic growth driven by sectors that the group is keen on financing including services and industry, with an ease of inflation in the third quarter of 2023. She announced that BK Board of Directors decided to have an interim dividend payout of Rwf8 billion, meaning a pay of Rwf8.44 per share, expected to be done on December 20. Habyarimana noted that this affirms commitment of value addition to shareholders’ investment. In the third quarter of 2023, the bank raked in total operation income of Rwf168.3 billion, and operating costs of Rwf68.5 billion. Net loans and advances increased by 15.8 percent to Rwf1,195 billion year-on-year, and client deposits increased by 11.9 percent to Rwf1,260 billion. Return on average assets and return on assets equity reached 3.9 percent and 22.4 percent respectively in the overall first nine months of 2023. Total assets reached Rwf1,195.9 billion and shareholders’ equity increased to Rwf346.6 billion. The lender also saw an increase in non-performing loans ratio to 4.3 percent, mainly attributed to a downgrade in one of its facilities. However, it had made provisions for this as was anticipated, hence, the cost of risk remained reasonable at 2.2 percent. Diane Karusisi, CEO of Bank of Kigali, expressed confidence in the performance outlook of the next quarter, saying that they expect to hit the Rwf70 billion target in net income. She said the investments in building the digital infrastructure are paying off with “close to 70 percent of clients transacting via channels which is a big improvement but far from the 90 percent target.” “We are working towards fully automating all our services. Typically, we would want our client to be able to buy bonds or stocks online, among others, and our target is to achieve this by the end of 2025.” On subsidiary level, BK Insurance registered a profit of Rwf2.5 billion, representing a 16 per cent growth in profitability steaming from an increase in its gross premium to Rwf9.3 billion up by 26 percent. BK TecHouse registered a sales revenue of Rwf1,116 billion, representing a growth rate of 22.3 per cent compared to Rwf867.2 million year-on-year, providing services to 292 million clients. BK Capital recorded a profit of Rwf140.8 million, with a 66 percent growth in assets under management mainly driven by net inflow in Aguka Trust Fund, increased pension contributions and performance gains. Going forward, Habyarimana noted, the bank will make a big portfolio investment in the agriculture sector in terms of insuring agricultural produce and providing digital tools to farmers. Bank of Kigali is the largest bank in Rwanda, with a market share of 30.3%. It has 67 branches, nine mobile branches, 104 ATMs, 4,287 agents, all of which serve 449,205 individual customers and 2,665 companies.
