Atlas Mara, the holding company for Banque Populaire du Rwanda (BPR) has dismissed as rumors reports that it is up for sale due to tough economic conditions. The bank’s co-founder Bob Diamond yesterday said instead they were looking to buy more banks across the African continent. Diamond was speaking at a Wall Street Journal forum on investing in Africa, giving his firm’s experience investing in Africa in recent years. Reports that Atlas Mara Group was seeking a buyout were largely brought about by the performance of the firms’ shares and further fueled by the abrupt unexplained exit of the group’s former chief executive, John Vitalo last month. Vitalo also ceded his position as a member of the board, to which he was also chairman. Diamond is currently in charge of the overall coordination of senior management. The recent changes also saw BPR Rwanda’s Managing Director Sanjeev Anand promoted to become Atlas Mara Group Managing Director for Retail and Commercial Banking. He also said that the group was moving into the digital space in coming days and would soon make what he termed as major announcements. Fears about the bank’s operations in Rwanda were also heightened due to its cost-to-revenue ratio which last year stood at around 95 or 96 per cent and one of the highest in the industry. Sanjeev said that this year they aim to bring it down to about 85 per cent and reduce it by about 5 or 6 per cent every year in coming years.
