BANK of Kigali could soon open branches in regional countries if their plans go as expected, a bank official announced.Addressing the business community in Huye District, Thursday, Jean Pierre Iyamuremye, the Bank of Kigali head of SME department, said this would expand their network in the region.“You should not be surprised to hear that, for instance, we are opening a branch in Kampala (Uganda) or Nairobi (Kenya)”, he said. “We want to increase the number of our customers compete with other financial institutions regionally. This will happen soon,” he said, without giving details.The meeting was organised to get feedback from their customers and come up with client-oriented solutions.The meeting discussed ways of improving service delivery.Martin Murenzi, the bank’s Huye branch manager, told Business Times that the annual discussions with their clients have contributed a lot to improvement of customer care and services.“We offer services but we cannot sit and think that we are doing it the best way. Our clients are the ones to tell us what they think is going on well and what needs to be improved,” Murenzi said.Antoine Burindwi, a businessman in Huye, commended the bank for improving its services.“A lot has been achieved in terms of customer care but you have to keep improving,” he advised.He asked the bank to hire customer care agents in each branch countrywide in order to further make their services better.The Governor of the Southern Province, Alphonse Munyentwari, observed that meeting clients was commendable “as it shows that Bank of Kigali cares for its customers”.“We, leaders, are used to approaching residents, who are actually our customers. But now that it is reaching the business it is a sign that service providers have started valuing their clients,” Munyentwari observed.“This should not be done by financial institutions only, but rather by each and every service provider”.He urged residents to work with banks and other financial institutions to uplift their social wellbeing.Urging partnership with other institutions, the Governor also called upon banks to work in the interest of Rwandans.
