BPR finds its origin back in 1975, when the people of Nkamba, a village in the current Eastern province felt the need to have a savings and credit scheme, to help them grow financially and achieve better livelihoods. This is how the first Bank Populaire was born.

Subsequently, other community based savings and credit schemes were established in other areas of Rwanda becoming various autonomous "Banques populaires."

In 1986, as these autonomous savings and credit schemes grew bigger and stronger, an umbrella bringing them together was put in place, with its headquarters in Kigali, under the name "Union des Banques Populaires du Rwanda (UBPR). These entities were tied together as cooperatives mainly to serve their members.

41 years along the road, the experience gained in providing financial services to the people, the growth that had been realized, but also the potential for growth that was inhibited by being a cooperative, called for upgrading.

In 2008, UBPR transformed to become a commercial bank but while retaining its cooperative roots.Today Atlas Mara Mauritius Limited has 62.1% of the shares, strategic partner Rabobank has 14.6% and 23.3% retained by Local Shareholders. The latter having the main mission to help upgrade "BPR” into a fully-fledged retail bank.