BPR Bank Rwanda Managing Director Patience Mutesi will leave the lender on October 31, after more than three and a half years in the position.
The bank announced her departure in a communique shared on its social media platforms. It said Mutesi was leaving to “pursue other interests” but did not provide further details.
Xavier Mugisha Shema, the bank’s current Executive Director for Commercial Businesses, will serve as acting managing director from November 1, subject to regulatory approval.
The bank’s board said it would begin the process of recruiting a substantive managing director.
Mutesi’s departure comes as the lender reports growth in profits and total assets. BPR Bank, a subsidiary of KCB Group, recorded a net profit of Rwf40.9 billion in 2025, up 35 per cent from Rwf29.7 billion in 2024.
Its total assets grew from Rwf971.9 billion to Rwf1.4 trillion over the same period, according to the bank’s 2025 financial report.
Mutesi took over as managing director in February 2023, following the leadership of George Odhiambo. During her tenure, she oversaw the bank’s operations following the merger of KCB Bank Rwanda and Banque Populaire du Rwanda.
Before joining BPR Bank Rwanda, she served as Country Director for TradeMark East Africa from 2016 to early 2023. She previously headed corporate banking at Ecobank Rwanda and has served on the boards of BPR Bank Rwanda, MTN Rwandacell and Rwanda Cooperation, as well as on the advisory council of One Acre Fund in Rwanda.
Mutesi holds a Bachelor of Science in Quantitative Economics from Makerere University in Uganda and an MBA in Finance from Maastricht School of Management in the Netherlands.
