Renowned French-Ivorian banking titan, Tidjane Thiam, has been appointed by the Rwandan government as the board chair of agency charged with mobilizing investment capital in Rwanda.
Thiam resigned as CEO of Credit Suisse in February following a damaging scandal involving allegations that he authorised a massive spying program on former executives of the Swiss bank.
However, Rwanda’s cabinet, chaired by President Paul Kagame on Wednesday evening, endorsed 58 year-old Thiam as the board chair for the Rwanda Finance Ltd.
Despite being a government establishment, the RFL works through a unique independent framework to explore non-traditional sources of financing, as Rwanda's lack of minerals, small size, and its volatile and landlocked geography means it needs to do more than most of its peers to find cash and investments.
And with his wealth of experience in the financial market and his expertise in financial innovation, Thiam seems to the right person for the challenging role.
With this appointment, Tidjane Thiam follows in the suit of fellow Ivorian, Eric Kacou, who was appointed to board of the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) in June.