Bank of Kigali Mobile App transactions rise tenfold on system upgrade

The volume of transactions handled on the Bank of Kigali (BK) Mobile App increased tenfold in three months following launch of the lender’s upgraded digital system, fresh data has revealed.

Month-on-month transaction volumes on the BK Mobile App increased sharply to 110,100 as at December 31, up from 10,817 recorded in October 2022, the first month under the upgraded digital system.

The value of transactions handled on the app increased in tandem to KSh97.8 million as at December 31, up from KSh6.1 million recorded in October.

 “This is a clear sign that our customers have embraced our new, revolutionary digital system including the mobile app,” said the Bank of Kigali CEO, Dr Diane Karusisi.

Bank of Kigali, a subsidiary of BK Group which is dual-listed on the Rwanda Stock Exchange and Nairobi Securities Exchange, on September 30 last year launched an upgraded digital system with unique biometric recognition capabilities.

The USSD version of BK Mobile officially went live on Sunday, February 26th, 2023, and in two weeks the platform on-boarded 68,611 users, supporting 139,641 transactions valued at KSh1.1 billion.

The new BK Mobile USSD interbank transfers capability through the “BK to other banks” feature will allow BK customers to carry out transfers to other banks via USSD.

“This new feature set is expected to revolutionize the way people conduct financial transactions, making it easier, faster, and more convenient than ever before,” said Dr. Karusisi.

An average of 2,500 customers onboarded themselves through the BK Mobile App in the three months, adding up to 7,679 new users in the quarter.

The Internet Banking 2.0 and BK Digital Lending also allows customers to conduct several transactions including transfers and scheduling of advance payments.

“The data indicates that the system upgrade as well as the new products have become a big hit with our customers including Rwandans in the diaspora,” said Dr Karusisi.

Account opening time has reduced to just a few minutes from more than an hour previously.

BK targets to onboard 80 percent of its customers onto its digital platform in two years, up from about 40 percent currently.

The bank in mid-October signed a partnership with World First Asia to enable its customers to send money instantly to China at a fraction of the cost of other cash transfer services in the market.

BK’s integration with China’s Ali Pay, a third-party online payment solution owned by Ant Financial, a subsidiary of World First Asia, enables account holders to send money from Rwanda to China instantly through Ali Pay.