East African Business Week (Kampala)
Daniel Karibwije
16 July 2007
Kigali — Phone banking has finally come to Rwanda courtesy of the commercial bank of Rwanda (bcr).
This was announced by the marketing and communication manager of bcr, Mr. Hannington Namara during a function held at the Hotel des Mille Collines last week.
"This is the first of its kind in the banking industry in the country. People in the diaspora can now call the bank and get real information on their account without having to go through a relative or a manager who might be busy," he revealed during the press conference.
Some of the services offered by the voice over phone innovation include balance inquiry, cheque request, product information, transaction inquiries and account opening information.
The bcr phone banking is a service provided for everyone. Any information pertaining one's account can be accessed without the hassle of physically going all the way to the bank.
To use the facility, MTN subscribers will dial 3227 and Rwandatel subscribers 227.
Rwanda's bank of the year 2006 according to The Banker magazine and Financial Times of London has initiated this first step in techno banking and hopes to follow up with sms banking and internet banking.
The service is a free facility offered to all account holders in the bank.
"The service will be available from 7am to 8pm on weekdays and 7am to 2pm on Saturdays. If a client calls after 8pm, they can leave a message and we will get back to them later," the call centre manager Ms. Vivian Kayitesi told Business Week.
The phone banking facility is designed to fulfill privacy requirements of its customers. Each client will be required to field a secret question and answer and will in addition, be given a system generated personal identification number (PIN).
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