Finance ministry confident of new Banque Populaire boss - DG

The recently appointed Banque Populaire du Rwanda (BPR) chief executive officer, Ephraim Turahirwa, will restore confidence, mind clients’ interests and revive the reportedly struggling financial institution, lawmakers were assured last week.Enata Dusenge, the finance ministry director general in charge of corporate services, made the reassurance while presenting the ministry’s proposed 2013/2014 budget estimates and medium-term expenditure plan to the Chamber of Deputies’ standing committee of budget and national patrimony.Lawmakers had earlier asked about what they said were ‘distressing’ reports indicating that BPR could collapse due to mismanagement. MP Abbas Mukama, the deputy chairperson of the committee, said he had already alerted finance ministry officials about the issue. “A citizen approached me expressing concern that people were closing accounts in Banque Populaire and taking their money to other banks. I alerted the ministry about it because I thought the situation could cause a crisis if it was not addressed immediately. So, can you inform this committee the steps you have taken to handle the situation? …we need to reassure depositors that their money is safe,” he added.Dusenge assured the MPs that the situation had been contained with the appointment of a new CEO.“You are all aware the government brought on board an investor, Rabobank from Holland about five years ago. The partner got 35 per cent shares in BPR and Rwandans under the co-operatives retained 65 per cent.“But there has been a weakness in management…management has been changed about twice or thrice, a sign that a problem had been noticed. However, last week, the board of governors resolved to appoint new leadership,” she explained.Dusenge noted that Turahirwa has a lot of experience in the banking sector. “He was once a director general of BCR. He is also a former vice-governor of the central bank and has recently been working within finance in the tea sector. We, therefore, believe that he has the capacity to rejuvenate the bank.”About BPRBanque Populaire was established in 1975 when the people of Nkamba, a village in the Eastern Province started a savings and credit scheme to help them grow financially and improve their livelihoods. Subsequently, other community-based savings and credit schemes (banques populaires) were established in other areas of the country. In 1986, an umbrella (Union des Banques Populaires du Rwanda - UBPR) bringing them together was formed with its headquarters in Kigali.In 2008, when a new investor was brought on board, UBPR transformed to a commercial bank, but retained its co-operative roots. The former co-operatives stayed as majority shareholders with 65 per cent shares, while 35 per cent went to Rabobank. The investor aimed to help upgrade BPR into a fully-fledged retail bank. The bank has a network of 191 branches, 1,600 employees and 1.3 million customers.

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Finance ministry confident of new Banque Populaire boss - DG