Traditional complaint mechanisms relied heavily on manual processes and physical access, limiting reach and slowing resolution. Consumers often lacked clear visibility into complaint status, while regulators faced challenges standardising intake and enforcing resolution timelines across diverse financial service providers.

NBR required a solution that could operate nationally, support multiple languages, and remain accessible to citizens without smartphones or reliable internet connectivity. At the same time, the system needed to enforce regulatory workflows, including verification of licensed institutions and escalation rules defined by NBR policy.

Proto worked with NBR to design Intumwa as a single conversational layer spanning complaints, inquiries, and regulatory information. Consumers can engage Intumwa through webchat on the NBR website and participating financial service provider sites, with WhatsApp and SMS support extending access to mobile-first and offline users.

When a consumer submits a complaint, Intumwa collects structured details including the financial institution, a description of the issue, and contact information. The system verifies the institution against NBR’s registry of licensed financial service providers before automatically routing the case to the appropriate organisation via NBR’s centralised complaints dashboard.

Each complaint follows a 15-day resolution period defined by NBR policy. If the issue is not resolved within this window, escalation can be triggered either by the consumer directly through the chat interface or by NBR via the internal case management system. Consumers can check live status at any time using a ticket reference, ensuring transparency and accountability throughout the process.

Beyond formal complaints, Intumwa dynamically handles general inquiries, switching seamlessly between complaint workflows and information responses based on user intent.

Intumwa now operates as Rwanda’s primary digital gateway for financial consumer protection, combining complaints intake, tracking, and information services into a single AI-driven platform.

Following the success of the initial deployment, NBR is expanding Intumwa into its mobile application, where the assistant will answer questions on regulations, consumer rights, and financial sector policies, guide users through digital forms, and provide updates on new programmes and initiatives. This positions Intumwa as a core conversational interface across NBR’s digital ecosystem.

The platform is available in English, French, and Kinyarwanda, ensuring linguistic accessibility nationwide. By supporting web, WhatsApp, and SMS channels, Intumwa reaches both urban and rural populations, including users without smartphones or stable internet access.

NBR is extending Intumwa with additional SupTech capabilities to strengthen proactive supervision. Planned enhancements include automated complaint categorisation to identify trends such as fraud, loan disputes, and delayed transfers, improving routing and regulatory response.

Future integrations will enable AI agent switching between financial service provider chatbots and Intumwa, ensuring that dissatisfied users or formal complaints are seamlessly transferred into the official regulatory process. NBR also plans to expand Intumwa into sentiment and social media monitoring, allowing early detection of emerging consumer risks and market-wide issues.

By deploying Intumwa, the National Bank of Rwanda has digitised consumer protection at national scale, delivering a transparent, accessible, and policy-aligned complaints system that strengthens trust in the financial sector. The platform enables consistent enforcement of resolution timelines, improves visibility for consumers, and equips regulators with structured data to identify systemic risks — laying the foundation for more proactive, data-driven supervision across Rwanda’s financial system.