With more than 1,500 branches in 35 countries, the Eco Bank Ned Bank Alliance is the largest banking network in Africa. The alliance was formed in 2008 between the Eco Bank Group and the Ned-bank Group, one of South Africa’s four largest financial services providers with a growing footprint of operations across the Southern African Development Community.
Ownership
The shares of Eco Bank Transnational Inc., the parent company of Eco-bank, are traded on three West African stock exchanges, namely: the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) and the BRVM stock exchange in Abidjan (Ivory Coast). As of December 2014, the ten largest shareholders in Eco Bank Transnational were as follows:
Banque Populaire du Rwanda
Banque Populaire du Rwanda Ltd formerly Banque Populaire du Rwanda SA is a commercial bank in Rwanda and is licensed by the National Bank of Rwanda, the national banking regulator.
Overview
Banque Populaire du Rwanda is one of the thirteen licensed commercial banks in the Republic of Rwanda. BPR is commonly known to focus on retail (consumer) banking activities (current and savings accounts, loans, and consumer banking tools like mobile banking) as well as agricultural business expertise with corporate customers in the food and agri-business value chain – in-line with their farming/cooperative foundation and involvement Rabo-bank as a shareholder.
On October 2015, BPR was a medium-sized financial services provider in Rwanda. Its total asset valuation was approximately US$325 million. At that time, shareholding in the bank was valued at about US$50 million. The bank focused its lending to businesses in the agricultural sector. It employed 1,477 staff at that time.
History
The origins of the bank can be traced back to 1975 when the first Banque Populaire du Rwanda was formed in the settlement of Nkamba in the city of Kibungo (Eastern Province). Over the next ten years, many other similar banks were established in the country. In 1986, the various autonomous Banques Populaires formed an umbrella called the Union des Banques Populaires du Rwanda (UBPR). UBPR was operated as a cooperative bank.
In January 2008, following 33 years of experience in the Rwandan financial sector, UBPR was transformed from a cooperative bank into a commercial bank: Banque Populaire du Rwanda S.A. In June 2008, (Rabo-bank) the Dutch cooperative banking conglomerate acquired 35 percent of the shares in BPR. In July 2012, Visa Inc. certified the bank to issue visa-branded debit and credit cards.
In January 2016, Atlas Mara completed its acquisition of a controlling stake of BPR after acquiring shares from existing shareholders and merging the bank with the commercial banking business that was spun off BRD.
Ownership
Arise is an investment company that focuses on investments in Africa. It is owned by a consortium of European financial institutions including FMO, Rabobank and Norfund
Branch network
On August 2009, Bank Populaire du Rwanda maintained a network of 25 full-service branches, including at the following locations:
Main Branch – Kigali
BPF Branch – Kigali
Kimironko Branch – Kimironko, Kigali
Muhima Branch – Muhima, Kigali
Rwezamenyo Branch – Rwezamenyo, Kigali
Muhanga Branch – Muhanga, Southern Province
Musanze Branch – Musanze, Northern Province
Rusizi Branch – Rusizi, Western Province
Gicumbi Branch – Gicumbi, Northern Province
Rubavu Branch – Rubavu, western Province
Ngoma Branch – Ngoma, Eastern Province
Huye Branch – Huye, Southern Province
Rwamagana Branch – Rwamagana, Eastern Province
Karongi Branch – Karongi, Western Province
Nyamagabe Branch – Nyamagabe, Southern Province
Nyagatare Branch – Nyagatare, Eastern Province
Bugesera Branch – Bugesera, Eastern Province
Nyanza Branch – Nyanza, Southern Province
Ngororero Branch – Ngororero, Western Province
Governance/ownership
The activities of Banque Populaire du Rwanda are supervised by a nine-member board of directors representing commercial activities, operations, risk and the branch network, headed by the CEO. The current CEO is Maurice Toroitich. The current chairman of the board is Njuguna Ndung’u. The day-to-day affairs of the bank are managed by a ten-member executive team, led by Maurice Toroitich, the CEO.