Cogebanque was created
in July 1999, 5 years after the war that left other
banks with an average of 49.5% of non-performing
loans. That was certainly a competitive advantage.
What was your main development strategy when entering
the market?
The creation the Cogebanque was initiated by
a group of 42 Rwandan investors. Among them, the
COGEAR (Compagnie Générale d'Assurance
et de Reassurance ) holds 34% and has the largest
share. The main advantage was to have a business
network through those investors, their suppliers,
their clients and second not to be burden with
the weight of the past.
The start was hard and it basically took two years
for the bank to be really operational and to start
making profit. First because the management policy
was not efficient and unclear. Secondly there
was also a lack of enough finance and trained
staff. Now, we are taking up market shares: we
are currently at 6 or 7% and hope to be at 10%
in 2003.
What is the profile of your portfolio?
We mainly deal with SME in the industry, agriculture,
services. We are still very cautious due to the
difficult times those sectors have been through
but our strategy is to keep on supporting SME
as well as importers and exporters.
To enlighten us on the size of your institution,
can you give us some figures such as your total
deposits for example?
Currently, we have a total amount of deposits
of around 12 millions dollars. We have 11 millions
in loans without cautions and letters of credit.
In 1998, the National Bank introduced a new
banking law and some measures related to banking
supervision. How did your shareholders react to
those measures that were not taken into account
at the time Cogebanque was to be created?
The main problem at the time was the increase
of the minimum capital that had to be doubled
up to Frw1.5bn. And, considering the negative
results of the first two years, our shareholder
were extremely reluctant to make more financial
effort to comply with the law. Finally, step by
step the new management showed that there was
potential for growth and the shareholders accepted
to inject more capital and comply with the law
by July 2001.
Today, I would say that the bank has made a significant
leap forward, the management is well structured,
we have a clear development strategy, our balance
sheet is healthy, our clients trust Cogebanque
and I am very optimist as far the future growth
of the institution is concerned.
Actually, we are today facing a growth crisis.
The bank has been enjoying a 400% growth over
the past few months; we are growing too fast and
it is important at this stage to find new financial
resources to maintain a sustainable growth.
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Is this growth mainly related to new management
methods or the implementation of new products?
Even if this is in our plans, we have not yet
introduced any new product so far. We have mainly
focused on improving existing products such as
"Banking at Home", using internet services.
We have worked on improving the quality the rapidity
of our services and a better management of our
commissions and interest rates. Since we are a
small bank, we can adapt easily to the market
and provide the most adequate rates. Our interest
rates on loans are currently around 17%.
To maintain a sustainable growth, the Cogebanque
is looking for new financial resources. Where
would the latter be invested in the first place?
We would invest them in medium and long-term
loans. We currently have resources but mainly
for short terms loans. Today, we feel we are missing
out so many opportunities in the industrial and
construction sectors; you know that buildings
and houses in Kigali are flourishing and unfortunately
we are limited in financing such projects. We
are currently in negotiation with the SFI that
is interested in becoming a shareholder of the
bank. Also, we are in contact the BIO, a Belgium
investment fund. I recently met with bankers from
Kenya as well as the Deputy Director of the Nairobi
stock exchange. They assured us they could find
new investors and financial resources for 10 to
15 years.
So, considering the good results achieved over
the past year and the good prospects for development,
we remain very optimistic for the future of the
Cogebanque.
Do you have investment projects related to
upgrading your infrastructure?
We are planning to move our head office to the
city center during the first quarter of 2003.
We are currently financing the construction of
the building, which will be used as a business
center and Cogebanque will operate on the two
first floors. Besides the three agencies we have
in Kigali, we plan to open a fourth agency outside
Kigali at the end of 2002. And in 2003, we will
open a fifth agency to the East of Kigali so that
the town becomes well covered.
As a foreign banker, coming from Madagascar,
how do you perceive Rwanda as a potential investment
destination as compared to the rest of the region?
First, I would stress the fact that there is
a lot to do in the tourism sector. I am receiving
many proposal for the financing of hotel constructions
but we are facing a lack of resources for those
projects.
There is definitely a will from the government
to boost the economy. We can observe it through
the introduction of initiatives related to the
liberalization of foreign exchange, the ease of
capital, goods and people movements. The government
has also made a lot of efforts in supporting all
sectors, agriculture, industry, tourism…
and the international community acknowledges those
initiatives. After all, many things still need
to be done. Rwanda cannot rely only on its basic
resources such Coffee, tea. Of course, a few laws
need to be amended or created but it is on the
right track. A lot has been achieved in terms
of the strategies implemented to increase transparency,
to gather the necessary finances for a sustainable
national budget. The new constitution should be
implemented in 2003. Definitely, Rwanda is implementing
all the necessary measures and tools to develop
steadily. The uncertainty remaining the political
climate in the great lakes' region. However, with
the recent peace treaty, the situation will become
stable and favorable for development and economic
growth.
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RWANDA
