Bank of Kigali’s Chief talks on digital solutions, cyber risks, regulations on PwC’s agenda


Devdiscourse News Desk | Kigali | Updated: 06-09-2019 18:07 IST | Created: 06-09-2019 18:07 IST
Bank of Kigali’s Chief talks on digital solutions, cyber risks, regulations on PwC’s agenda
On the business risk of cybersecurity, Dr Diane Karusisi said that the awareness of cyber risks is picking up as the attackers are becoming more sophisticated. Image Credit: Facebook / Bank of Kigali
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  • Rwanda

African business leaders do not seem to be highly optimistic about the strength or capacity of the global economy and their companies’ ability to multiply revenues in both short and medium-term than they were a year back. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has conducted intense study and spoken to the multiple industry expects from various African countries and compiled their views in their recently published report “The Africa Business Agenda 2019”.

The 7th edition of PwC’s “The Africa Business Agenda 2019” reveals African CEOs and PwC leaders sharing their perspectives on the realities and rewards of doing business on the continent. “The Africa Business Agenda” draws on the results of PwC’s 22nd Annual Global CEO Survey of 1,378 interviews in 91 countries, including 83 CEOs from 19 African nations. Here, we will have a look what the CEO of Bank of Kigali, Dr Diane Karusisi said in the exclusive conversation with PwC.

As the largest commercial bank in Rwanda, Bank of Kigali total assets were valued at USD 983.6 million as of December 31, 2018. It commenced operation in 1966 as a joint venture between the government of Rwanda and Belgolaise was a subsidiary of Fortis Bank (now BNP Paribas Fortis). At the exclusive conversation with PwC, Dr Diane Karusisi was asked to her opinion on the evolving banking services in the next 10 years.

In reply, Dr Diane Karusisi said that it is difficult to predict where banking services will be in 10 years because they are seeing unprecedented disruption due to technological advancements, digital innovations and the evolution of customer behaviours and expectations. “Our growth strategy has been driven by the objective of meeting our clients’ financial needs through great customer experiences. We have invested in various convenient channels to deliver banking services including 75+ branches countrywide as well as digital channels so that anyone, anywhere can access our services,” she said. Superior customer service, speed and technology are vital to our transformation strategy that will drive continuous growth in Bank of Kigali’s profitability and market share. Bank of Kigali believes customer experience in the digital era is a differentiating factor for every business (not only just banks) and the bank keeps the customer experience in mind when designing digital solutions as the experts know “experiences on the digital channels are now just as important as experiences at the physical branch locations.”

On the business risk of cybersecurity, Dr Diane Karusisi said that the awareness of cyber risks is picking up as the attackers are becoming more sophisticated. Now banks are also making necessary investments in infrastructure and the risks of cybersecurity are highly being discussed in the boardrooms. “Our growth strategy has been driven by the objective of meeting our clients’ financial needs through great customer experiences. We have invested in various convenient channels to deliver banking services including 75+ branches countrywide as well as digital channels so that anyone, anywhere can access our services,” she cited.

Bank of Kigali’s CEO also spoke on the unknown factors in the banking industry over the next 10 years, one of those is regulation and how regulations will adjust to market disruptions. “In Rwanda, regulators have put in place new requirements and a revised banking law to reflect the technological changes in financial services. In 2018, the National Bank of Rwanda released new cybersecurity regulations requiring penetration testing, preventing data from being stored in the cloud and mandating two-factor identification where possible,” she further said.

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