National Bank of Rwanda automates consumer protection across 600+ financial institutions
The automated consumer protection system at the National Bank of Rwanda is deployed across 591 financial institutions and handled more than 4.5 million messages since its deployment.
Automating consumer protection across 600+ financial institutions
44K
+50% YoY ▲
chats handled monthly
550K
+80% YoY ▲
interactions handled monthly
1.32s
+14% YoY ▲
average bot response time
65K interactions handled monthly +50% YoY
65K interactions handled monthly +50% YoY
600+ financial institutions covered
600+ financial institutions covered
3.5K chats handled monthly +60% YoY
3.5K chats handled monthly +60% YoY
The National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) is responsible for protecting financial consumers and maintaining trust across Rwanda’s financial system. As digital financial services expanded nationwide, BNR recognised the need for a modern, inclusive mechanism that would allow citizens to report complaints, access authoritative financial information, and track redress without relying on physical visits or fragmented, manual workflows.
To meet this need, BNR partnered with Proto to deploy Intumwa, an AI-powered consumer protection agent. Initially focused on digitising complaints handling, Intumwa has since evolved into a broader conversational utility supporting both complaints management and information delivery across multiple digital channels.
Limited reach and manual complaint workflows
Prior to Intumwa, consumer protection relied heavily on manual and location-dependent workflows that limited access for rural populations, slowed complaint resolution, and provided little visibility for consumers seeking updates on their cases. Enforcing consistent regulatory timelines across financial service providers was operationally difficult, and handling inquiries and complaints through separate systems increased administrative overhead.
BNR required a single, national system that could operate across languages and connectivity levels, embed regulatory rules directly into complaint handling, and provide both consumers and supervisors with a clear, traceable process.
Resolving complaints in 15 days or less
Proto designed Intumwa as a unified conversational layer that standardises complaint handling and information access across Rwanda’s financial sector.
Intumwa delivers rapid redressal for consumers and supervisory control for BNR through the following capabilities:
- 100 % digital complaint intake, with structured capture of institution, issue description, and consumer contact details
- Automatic verification of complaints against BNR's registry of licensed financial service providers before routing
- Centralised routing into BNR's complaints dashboard, creating a single supervisory view across institutions
- Integration with financial institutions' websites and customer support systems
- Policy-enforced 15-day resolution timelines with escalation available to both consumers and BNR
- Live status tracking via ticket number enabling continuous transparency for complainants
- Kinyarwanda voice AI for inclusive access to all Rwandan citizens
The platform is accessible via webchat, SMS, and WhatsApp, with all conversations synchronised across channels. This ensures continuity even when consumers move between devices or connectivity environments.
Intumwa also supports general inquiries, dynamically switching between informational and formal complaint workflows based on consumer intent. BNR is also extending Intumwa into its mobile application, where it will provide regulatory guidance, support digital forms, and deliver updates on financial sector programmes and services.
With Intumwa, BNR has moved from fragmented, manual processes to a policy-driven, transparent, and inclusive consumer protection system, strengthening trust in Rwanda’s financial sector while redefining online dispute resolution as an integral component of digital public infrastructure.
65K interactions handled monthly +50% YoY
65K interactions handled monthly +50% YoY
600+ financial institutions covered
600+ financial institutions covered
3.5K chats handled monthly +60% YoY
3.5K chats handled monthly +60% YoY
100% automated complaint collection workflow
100% automated complaint collection workflow
Challenge: Expanding access to consumer protection across urban and rural Rwanda
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.
Process: Building multilingual AICX
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.
Solution: A Scalable AI agent for consumer protection and information access
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.
591
financial institutions covered
4.5M
interactions handled
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.
About Proto
Proto is a leading provider of local and secure AI solutions for emerging markets. The company is trusted by governments and regulated industries to power inclusive interactions for usecases such as transaction support, citizen engagement, and anti-scam centres. Proto’s clients include central banks, remittance services, and hospitals protected with the company’s SOC2, ISO27001, and HIPAA security compliance. Proto’s proprietary natural language engine delivers understanding for local and mixed languages across underserved populations – beyond the capabilities of large language models. Headquartered in Canada, Proto operates from regional offices in the Philippines and Rwanda.