Rwanda Commercial Bank (BCR) is set to acquire a new name following a takeover by a Kenyan lender a month ago.Kenya’s I&M Bank acquired 80 per cent stake in BCR from London-based private equity investor, Actis, in July as the Government of Rwanda retained 20 per cent stake in the local lender. I&M is a leading player in the consortium with two others, European Development Financial Institution, DEG and PROPARCO.“Of course the name has to change sometime soon but we are still busy in the integration process,” Sarit S. Raja Shah, the Executive Director of I&M Bank said last week.BCR has seen new products brought about by the deal. The lender has launched a new product dubbed ‘Brisk Transfer’.“Brisk Transfer’ is a special fund transfer service allowing you to transfer funds to beneficiaries in Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda,” BCR Managing Director, Sanjeev Anand explained last week while launching the product in Rwanda. “The service is a unique were beneficiaries receive funds on the same or next working day, depending on whether they are I&M bank branch network customers or not—and it cost effective with low charges.”I&M becomes the fourth Kenyan bank to invest in Rwanda after Fina Bank, Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB Group) and Equity Bank.BCR currently has a network of 15 branches, and over the years, the lender has built a strong profit operation with total assets of Rwf92.9 billion as of December last year.
