Clients of this SACCO, like hundreds others will not have to worry about the safety of their hard-earned money
For the first time in Rwanda’s history, every person with money in a bank, microfinance institution or Umurenge SACCO now has a legal guarantee.to get back some of the money: if the institution fails.
When your bank goes under, you will get back up to RWF 1,000,000 — fast and automatically in less than a month, according to new law.
The long-awaited safety net became reality last week after the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) issued Regulation No. 93/2025,, instantly operationalising the new Deposit Guarantee Fund rules.
This is the strongest protection ordinary Rwandans have ever had for their savings.
From now on, your first one million francs in any licensed financial institution is 100 % safe.
The RWF 1 million cap — the first time an exact amount has been written into law — covers savings accounts, current accounts, fixed deposits and even mobile money wallets linked to licensed institutions.
What this means is that you you have 30 million francs saved in a bank that goes bankrupt, but you still owe that same bank 10 million on a loan.
First, the 10 million loan is cancelled against your savings → you are left with 20 million.
Then the Fund pays you only the guaranteed 1 million francs quickly.
The remaining 19 million becomes a normal claim in the liquidation – in practice, most people lose almost all of it.
However, if you have less than Rwf 1m, you will get it back whole – which essentially means the millions of people with small savings in SACCOs or Microfinance, are safe.
Interest earned up to the day of closure is included, while any unpaid loan at the same failed institution is deducted first.
More than 470 institutions are now part of the scheme: all 16 commercial and development banks, every one of the 416 Umurenge SACCOs countrywide, and dozens of deposit-taking microfinance companies.
Each pays a quarterly premium of 0.025 % of eligible deposits to build the Fund.
The new rules replace the 2016 system that had no fixed ceiling and only paid out after an institution collapsed.
The upgraded “pay-box plus” model also allows the Fund to inject money into a struggling institution to prevent failure altogether.
Except for microfinances, with most recent cant in March this year of Microfinance Inkingi Plc, no commercial bank has collapsed in Rwanda.
Latest BNR data shows the sector remains healthy — banks posted RWF 132.5 billion in profits in the first half of 2025.
However, the clear guarantee removes the last excuse for keeping cash under the mattress.
The ceiling is still modest compared with neighbours.
The RWF 1 million level fully protects more than 90 % of individual depositors in the country, and the amount can be raised later once the Fund has built bigger reserves.
Depositors with larger balances or loans at the same institution have the option of spreading their money across several banks to multiply the protection.
A toll-free hotline (4040) and a dedicated page on the BNR website (www.bnr.rw/depositinsurance) (www.bnr.rw/depositinsurance) have been launched to answer public questions.
