Business round up

Central Bank pushes for modern payment system The Central Bank Governor Francois Kanimba said that developing a fully integrated payment and settlement system in the East African region, is a prerequisite to establish an operational common market in the region. Kanimba was presiding over a three day workshop on Payment and Settlement Systems. “Having a modern and efficient payment, clearing and settlements systems should be an essential requirement for the development of a market economy and well functioning financial markets.” Kanimba said. Organised by the EAC secretariat and the National Bank of Rwanda, in partnership with the African Development Bank, it was aimed at assessing how far the EAC region has gone in building robust payment systems in the region.It also focused at drawing an action plan to accelerate the integration of national initiatives into a regional Payment Systems Network. Kanimba said that EAC Central Banks are playing a critical role at different stages of Payment Systems modernization in the region, and that the region has recorded steady developments in the payment and settlement systems. BK scoops “The Bankers” Award 2010 Financial Times (FT), a magazine based in London ranked Bank of Kigali (BK) as Rwanda’s bank of the year in terms of financial performance and business growth. The Marketing Manager of BK, Januario Mucyo, told Business Times that the raking was based on good financial performance, business growth and customer care service. “Because of our good customer care services the bank increased its customer base and retained the old ones,” Mucyo said. According to FT, BK scooped the year’s award yet again, due to its sound approach to lending and efficient policies, a note from The Banker’s website reads. The FT magazine indicated that BK’s efforts are particularly laudable as the bank chose not to increase lending rates following the liquidity crisis. Bralirwa IPO Gains Momentum It was reported that local investors have increasingly shown interest in the ongoing share buying of the percentage government owned in Bralirwa as the deadline gets close. This follows the official launch of the sale of government’s 25 percent stake in the brewery on November 23 to the public. Andrew Otengo Owiny, the Executive Director of MBEA Brokerage Services, told Business Times that “We have a lot of people coming and being curious about the IPO; in the banks a lot of people are coming and picking the forms and wanting to open up share accounts.” Owiny, who also doubles as the lead transaction advisor of the IPO, observed that following the nationwide sensitization campaigns, the IPO is steadily generating a lot of interest among the general public. “Given that it is the first time it is happening; I have a good feeling about this curiosity because if you do not have the curiosity then you can not translate it into actual purchases,” he said. Rwanda to replicate Madagascar’s sericulture model Following a recent visit by a delegation from Rwanda which included farmers’ representatives, a researcher and officials from National Sericulture Centre (NSC) to Madagascar Rwanda will use the lessons learnt to promote silk production. Madagascar has always been Rwanda’s role model in sericulture production to improve the livelihoods for her people. The Coordinator of the NSC, Pontiano Nemeye, said that “Because of the significance of silk in Madagascar’s culture, farmers have mastered the art and perfected the skills.” He said that Madagascar proved that sericulture is possible on farmer’s level and fits well in all rural community activities. According to him, prices for cocoons and silk yarns are the best worldwide. In Madagascar fresh cocoons cost $7.5 compared to $3.5 per Kilo in Rwanda and silk yarn cost between $40 and $60 per Kilo considered the highest worldwide. Rwandatel launches customer appreciation week Rwandatel SA launched its customer appreciation week that will go till December 10. The company said the week is aimed at complimenting government efforts in improving customer service in the country. According to the company, as a way appreciating customers’ loyalty, each day will be dedicated to a different product or services the company offers. Rwandatel’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Issiaka Maiga Hamidou, said that this was also a celebration basing on a good relationship the company has had with its customers. “We hope they (customers) will ask as many questions as they would like so they can get to learn about our products and services in detail as this week is simply dedicated to them,” Hamidou said. The week was also dedicated to the customers in a way of meeting Rwandatel managers and staff to discuss with on various issues all aimed at improving service delivery. BK expands loan book by 21 percent Bank of Kigali (BK) said that its loan book has grown in the last 9 months significantly supporting credit growth in the economy. This meant that the bank registered a modest increase by 21 percent in credit issued from Rwf77billion in December 2009 to Rwf92billion as of September30th 2010. The Chief of Operations (COO) at BK, Lawson Naibo, said that credit issued was largely attributed to construction, mortgages and trade “Generally looking at the whole banking sector the uptake of loans and investment has been a bit low as a result of last year slowing down of the economy,” he said. According to the central bank domestic credit of the banking sector, expanded by 9.4 percent in the 9 months of 2010. And this was driven by the credit to the private sector which increased by 5.8 percent, far below the target of 20percent programmed for the whole year 2010. “This year a lot of companies were reporting a slowdown in their revenue especially in the first half of this year. But in the third quarter many of the people who had had problems are now coming and asking for restructuring and also repaying,” Naibo said. MFI’s urged on transparent pricing As a way of improving and promoting consumer protection, Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in Rwanda will start using transparent pricing. The move will be lead by MFTransparency, which will also be charged with collecting data on the interest rates and fees charged on each microfinance loan product in order to calculate the accurate, true price on those loans. During the launch of the project, Ambassador Claver Gatete who is also the Vice governor of the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) said that this will build trust and confidence of MFI customers. “MFIs reach a wide range of people especially the Rwanda rural community and this will boost their trust hence growth of the industry,” Gatete said. The move was also in line with central bank’s required standards for pricing disclosure and facilitating a fair exchange between suppliers and consumers of microfinance products. Ends