Rwanda’s Bank of Kigali quarterly pretax profit up 58.9%

Bank of Kigali’s third quarter pretax profit rose 58.9% to 14.6 billion Rwandan francs ($16.07 million), helped by growth in its loan book, Rwanda’s biggest lender by assets said on Thursday.

The bank, which came into being more than half a century ago, operates 68 outlets and an insurance business.

Its net interest income climbed 29% during the quarter to 24.4 billion francs.

“We’ve grown our loan book by almost 15% which is quiet significant,” chief executive Diane Karusisi told a news conference.

The bank also said it expected a dividend payout of 8.9 billion francs.

Its total assets stood at 944.3 billion francs as of September, Karusisi added.

The bank is in negotiations to buy local insurer Sonarwa.

“We are going to have conclusive talks in the coming weeks,” Karusisi said.

Reuters