FPM ASBL, the Fund for financial inclusion fund in the DRC, will sign a partnership agreement with Rawbank SA in early April.
The mission of FPM, the Fund for financial inclusion in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is part of the national microfinance policy and strategy in the Democratic Republic of Congo. FPM contributes to poverty reduction in the DRC by promoting the development of a sustainable supply of financial services accessible to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and low-income households.
To achieve this, FPM relies on local and international financial institutions and SME banks, to which it provides long-term financing and technical and financial assistance services. It operates through the following axes:
- Direct technical assistance
- Forums and training courses
- Market research studies
- Financing through FPM SA entity
It is in this context that FPM will support Rawbank SA in institutional strengthening; its intervention will focus on two sets of activities: the optimization of global risk management and the harmonization of SME practices within the bank.
The bank had entrusted Frankfurt School with the restructuring of the SME segment, which implemented a new customer approach and successfully launched a pilot phase in a single branch in the city. However, the other agencies continue to operate under a different logic and we can observe the diversity of SME approaches with two cultures at team level, hence the need to harmonize practices and reorganize the SME department within the bank. The organization of risk management needs to be optimized because it is still in the formalization phase.
Operational since 2002, Rawbank is a bank created by the Rawji family, of Pakistani origin, which owns a group of companies operating mainly in the sectors of distribution, industry, logistics, real estate, port operations in the DR Congo and in some countries in Africa, Europe and Asia.
Rawbank is currently the first bank in the DRC in terms of total assets; it is the only bank to have crossed the USD 1 billion threshold in total assets. It represents the largest capitalization of the financial sector (more than USD 81 million in share capital and more than USD 119 million in equity), with a net outstanding credit of more than USD 444 million (nearly 51,000 borrowers) and a deposit portfolio of USD 873 million (more than 230,000 accounts) in 2015. It is one of the few banks in the country that holds a large portfolio of accounts with financial and public institutions in its books.
