I&M, one of Rwanda’s commercial banks
You want to take out a bank loan, open a bank account, or you simply want to know where you will get the best rates on your day to day banking transactions. Until now, there would have been no way of knowing this, without a considerable amount of legwork, researching the various banks’ policies. Not anymore.
A new website will now allow customers to compare the different financial service providers, primarily on cost.
Launched by the Rwanda Central Bank (BNR), “Gereranya”, or compare, gives the customer a clear snapshot of service providers’ charges on the different financial instruments.
From different types of loans, including mortgages, to personal banking, the website puts prospective customers, in a position to approach financial service providers, already armed with information about the charges they are likely to incur, from all the country’s main providers of financial services.
With the ubiquity of bank charges in Rwanda, Gereranya is one of those services that will be welcomed as though it had long been awaited. It is likely to have customers wishing they had had it earlier, and wondering why it took so long to establish.
The website may also have welcome, unintended, certainly unstated consequences. With the ability to easily contrast, compare, and hunt around for the best rates, customers could find themselves nudging financial institutions into searching for ways to further improve their services, to stay ahead of the competition.
Never ones to knowingly miss an opportunity to levy charges on their much put upon customers, perhaps with Gereranya, Rwanda’s providers of financial services, may have reason to be reminded of the adage, that the customer is king. Or queen, of course.
