The Central Bank of Rwanda (BNR) has tightened regulations governing how banks transfer the technology services they use, after the crisis in recent days at BPR Bank, although all these issues have been resolved.
In February, BPR Bank Rwanda Plc updated the technology it uses in its services, merging the former Banque Populaire du Rwanda (BPR Plc) and KCB Bank Rwanda Ltd, after being acquired by KCB Group.
BPR Bank Rwanda Plc has moved from the Temenos 24 Release 12 technology that was used in the former BPR and Temenos 24 Release 14 in the former KCB Rwanda, to the integrated and modern technology of Temenos 24 Release 21, which integrates information from all the clients.
Technology integration and modernization has been completed and the new technology started to be used in the services of BPR Bank Rwanda Plc on January 23, 2023.
However, there have been some barriers to accessing certain services and banking channels, which will be gradually resolved.
Central Bank of Rwanda Governor John Rwangomba said on Tuesday that the BPR incident has become a lesson in how to control tech reforms.
He said: “It was also a lesson for us, we didn’t punish them because they are also like things that happened to them, but what it showed us is that before any reform , there are things that you have to watch and make sure that everything is done well, accomplished, before accepting that there is this change.
He added that they found out that in BPR they have set up three “systems”, they will install one and one will collide with the others causing trouble.
He continued: “So it’s good that it’s done in stages, one that works well first, and they can add another, because every time there is a change in the technology used, there is no shortage of disturbances, but this is to reduce the disturbances that have occurred.”
“So there were regulations on how to prevent disruption as it happened to BPR, because they created like three channels and then connected two banks. They did a lot of things at once, which has caused more chaos than it might have , but that’s the lesson we’ve learned, it makes us stricter on the regulations governing how banks or financial institutions transfer their services technology.”
There are currently 10 commercial banks in Rwanda, one cooperative bank (Zigama CSS), one development bank (BRD Plc) and three medium-sized banks (Unguka bank Plc, Urwego bank Plc and AB Bank Rwanda Plc).
