{"id":43819,"date":"2021-07-01T12:20:43","date_gmt":"2021-07-01T12:20:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/cogebanque-s-new-ceo-outlines-areas-of-priority\/"},"modified":"2021-07-04T11:28:13","modified_gmt":"2021-07-04T11:28:13","slug":"cogebanque-s-new-ceo-outlines-areas-of-priority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/cogebanque-s-new-ceo-outlines-areas-of-priority\/","title":{"rendered":"Cogebanque’s new CEO outlines areas of priority"},"content":{"rendered":"

Habarugira is a finance and business development professional with over 14 years of professional experience specialising in financial institutions, business (investment, treasury, payments, export, and trade finance) and economic development in emerging markets.<\/p>\n

Speaking to IGIHE recently, the new CEO of Cogebanque appointed on 1st May 2021, expressed delight for the trust bestowed upon him and pledged to overhaul the bank\u2019s services to meet customers\u2019 expectations. <\/p>\n

\u201cI welcomed the appointment with humility. It is a demanding responsibility to serve the institution diligently, manage employees, offer top notch services to customers, consolidate gains and maintain constant improvement to satisfy customers,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Habarugira\u2019s appointment was announced during difficult times of COVID-19 pandemic which brought unprecedented effects and affected financial institutions globally among others. <\/p>\n

In 2020, Cogebanque registered Rwf3.8 billion net profit in 2020 translating into a decrease by 4.7% compared to Rwf4 billion of 2019. <\/p>\n

Despite dropped net profit in 2020, Habarugira explained that the bank\u2019s operations remain steady and expressed optimism to continue helping customers to mitigate COVID-19 effects. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe management of the bank has expended much effort to mitigate effects brought by the pandemic. We have extended loan repayment tenor for customers in hospitality and transport businesses affected by COVID-19,\u201d he noted. <\/p>\n

Habarugira also attributed last year\u2019s performance to Government\u2019s efforts to fight the pandemic. <\/p>\n

Generally, the bank\u2019s non-performing loans increased to 8% which is above 5% maximum ratio set by the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR). <\/p>\n

Habarugira explained that the high percentage of non-performing loans is expected to reduce gradually as businesses return to normal working conditions. <\/p>\n

He revealed that Cogebanque stands firm to maintain its operations, continue offering loans and reassured customers of the bank\u2019s commitment to meet their expectations. <\/p>\n

\u201cClients should rest assured because we have active shareholders willing to take the bank to greater heights. We still have enough funds and hope borrowers will continue the repayment process appropriately as much as the economy continues to thrust forward,\u201d he stated. <\/p>\n

{{Prioritizing technology}}<\/p>\n

Habarugira has emphasized that Cogebanque pulled many lessons from COVID-19 pushing it to increase investment in technology. <\/p>\n

\u201cRevising the way we used to work is mandatory to promote technology and serve customers fast. It is part of existing projects but the pandemic convinced us that we need to fast track their implementation,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Among other areas of priority, Habarugira explained that the bank will draw much attention to supporting e-commerce businesses and help customers to embrace digital transactions. <\/p>\n

As he said, the bank has gone far with digital uptake which is set to undergo upgrading to reach all customers. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going leverage technology to improve service delivery. We are undergoing this process and understand the need to embrace digitalization as a way to reduce workloads and sustainably serve clients with convenience,\u201d noted Habarugira. <\/p>\n

During his first year at Cogebanque, Habarugira wants to speed up response to customers seeking different services. <\/p>\n

\u201cWithin the first year of duty, customers should expect quicker feedback whether the loan application is approved or need an update,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Habarugira further stressed that the bank wants to streamline sources of income without heavy reliance on interest rates and service charges. <\/p>\n

The bank\u2019s profit was previously generated from interest rates accounting for 81%. Non-Interest Income accounts for 17% while the remaining 2% comes from other activities. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe will prioritize other services instead of heavily relying on loans. We want profit from other services to reach 21%,\u201d explained Habarugira. <\/p>\n

Habarugira also seeks to decentralize services where branch managers will have a certain level of autonomy in decision making. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to build capacity among branch managers where they will make some decisions to solve customers\u2019 problems without interventions from main headquarters in the near future,\u201d he noted. <\/p>\n

In 2020, Cogebanque disbursed Rwf 158 billion in loans from Rwf 144 billion of 2019. The bank\u2019s deposits also hit Rwf 213 billion in 2020 from Rwf 179 billion of 2019. <\/p>\n

Established in 1999, Cogebanque has 28 branches countrywide, 600 agents and 36 Automated Teller Machines (ATMs). <\/p>\n

\"Guillaume<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{Cogebanque Plc recently appointed Guillaume Ngamije Habarugira as its new Chief Executive Officer replacing Cherno Gaye who left the position towards the end of 2020.}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[72,75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-43819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-featured-news-home","tag-homenews","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43819\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43819"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=43819"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=43819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}