Kigali Rwanda -The Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA), a financial services provider headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, with the largest economy in the East African Community has finished plans to acquire Crane Bank Rwanda according to news Medias in Rwanda.
The sale of Crane Bank Rwanda comes months after the parent firm, Crane Bank, was sold to Dfcu Bank, both based in Uganda.
Sources told The New Times of Rwanda that the acquisition was initiated about a fortnight ago and could be complete any day from
A number of local banks had expressed interest in Crane Bank Rwanda, which has two branches in the country. The bank began operations in the country in 2014.
The source said there have been discussions on the acquisition, which are awaiting formal sign-off.
CBA entered the Rwandan market in January operating as a micro-finance institution.
The bank partnered with telecom service provider MTN-Rwanda to roll out a mobile telephone-linked banking product, MoKash.
CBA’s acquisition of Crane Bank Rwanda could see it transition from a micro-finance facility to a fully-fledged financial institution and venture into retail banking.
The capitalisation challenges at Crane Bank Uganda and consequent takeover of the management by Uganda’s central bank did not have direct effect on its Rwandan subsidiary, officials from the National Bank of Rwanda say.
©Alleastafrica and The New Times
