East African Business Week (Kampala)
Bosco Hitimana
12 May 2008
Kigali — At least three leading Rwandan banks in leasing have formed a leasing association in a bid to promote the product.
Dubbed the Rwanda Leasing Association, the initiative is geared by the International Finance Corporation (IFC)-the World Bank's private lending arm, which under its Competitiveness and Enterprise Development Project (CEDP), Rwanda Leasing Programme will serve as the association's secretariat in a period of the first year.
The statute to mark the creation of the association was signed at Kigali Serena Hotel last week by the managing director of Rwanda's second prominent commercial bank (bcr), Mr. David Kuwana, the managing director of FINA Bank Rwanda, Mr. Steve Caley and the deputy managing director of Rwanda Development Bank (BRD), Mr. Jack Kayonga.
An independent lawyer witnessed the signing to ensure legality of the association. The three banks are the leading players in leasing business in the country.
"Every bank should be looking at doing leasing because it is a way to grow your profile and expand your customer bases," the president of the association and managing director of Fina Bank Rwanda, Steve Caley said.
The association is tasked to promote leasing in the country and also uplift the voice of the product providers. "Establishing an association for the leasing sector will help create a sustainable platform for championing the interests of all stakeholders and strengthen the sector," IFC Team leader in Rwanda, Mr. Brian Kirungi said.
The initiative will enable leasing providers to pool resources to educate the public on the benefits of leasing as a source of financing for small businesses.
According to Steve Caley, the association will go strong because it will contain more major players in leasing business. He said that it is not restricted to the financial institutions that provide leasing, meaning that even people interested in leasing can join.
Leasing business which is growing tremendously in the country had in the beginning encountered acrimonious past between the leasing providers and the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) over VAT claims which the revenue body was supposed to return to the providers.
Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) returned almost Rwf400million ($727,272) to major players-Rwanda commercial bank (bcr) and Fina bank.
According to Steve, the revenue body has accepted the proposals of the leasing providers and currently, business is going on smoothly.
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