The Government of Rwanda has various objectives that act as the points focus in its policy formulation and implementation. Among these is one of devising and implanting policies that promote the welfare of all its citizens. It was in pursuit of this objective that the School of Finance and Banking (SFB), a public institution of higher learning, was established in June 2002 by Law No 21/2002 of June 20th, 2002. SFB took up its training mandate on January 5, 2004 offering MBA with specializations Banking, Finance, and Project Management, in Partnership with the Maastricht School of Management (MSM). Besides, the school started offering ACCA programme, a professional course in accountancy. In addition, tailor-made short-courses and professional programmes were given in various management disciplines to meet the changing needs of business leaders and managers. On 4th May 2005, a Cabinet meeting chaired by His Excellency President Paul KAGAME decided that the Management Faculty that was part of Kigali Institute of Technology (KIST) was to be transferred to the School of Finance and Banking (SFB) with effect from January 2006. Therefore, in addition to MBA, SFB started offering Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) programme in Accounting, Finance, Human Resources Management and Marketing specializations. Various other undergraduate programmes and short- courses are being planned to cater for the needs of Rwandan and regional labor market so as to transform SFB into an international business school.

The School entered into an agreement with the William Davidson Institute (WDI) based at the University of Michigan in the United States of America, whereby WDI would help to transform the SFB into a center of academic excellence, and an internationally accredited business school that is recognized as a leader in the region. With this agreement, a strategic plan was realized by WDI and SFB was given another management team at the top to implement this plan. It is also in this framework that there was a revision of programmes. Part of the legacy of WDI is the Goldman Sachs program supporting women entrepreneurs and giving scholarships to needy bright women to do their BBA studies at SFB. However, as this agreement was very costly to the school and the government, it did not continue, which explains the recent changes in SFB. Nevertheless, SFB as a school has continued to grow in numbers and programs. Thus, two new departments are starting soon, one of which is the department if Economics whose process of approving the curriculum is at its advanced stages.

SFB has had four graduation ceremonies and has conferred to offered to the country 949 BBA graduands, 118 MBA graduands and its ACCA programs registers 17 ACCA professionals who had completed their course as of the third graduation ceremony. In 2009, during its 4th graduation ceremony, SFB is conferring 339 Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Accounting, Finance, Human Resource Management and Marketing specializations. In partnership with MSM, the School is also conferring 41 MBA graduands in Finance and Project Management Specializations at that ceremony.