National Microfinance Bank PLC (NMB) has been named “the Best Bank in Tanzania for 2013” by pre-eminent international finance magazine Euromoney. The awards were presented at the 2013 Euro money Awards for Excellence Dinner in London.
In the year 2012, NMB has made notable progress by providing transactional, savings and investment, and lending solutions to the growing customer base in wholesale, MSME (micro, small and medium enterprise), food and agriculture, government and personal banking segments nationwide.
NMB branch network of 150 branches continues to be the dominant network among banks in Tanzania, fulfilling a key role in empowering local communities, and thus having significant but often forgotten economic impact, especially in those previously unbanked communities and districts. Currently, NMB has over 1.8 million customers, which means that up to 40% of all Tanzanians who have a bank account actually are banking with NMB.
NMB has extensive branch coverage in 95% of districts in Tanzania of which a total of 60% of these branches are in rural areas. In 2012, NMB had over 1.7 million ATM cards activated and the growth of the customer base reached to over 1.8 million customers. The ATM network grew to over 500 ATM machines nationwide, and NMB mobile reached over 750,000 active accounts. The bank also finances a rapidly growing SME segment with over 60,000 customers.
In recognizing NMB for the award, Euromoney Editor, Clive Horwood highlighted, “by expanding its reach over time, NMB has become the second largest bank in Tanzania and it estimates that 40% of the banked population in Tanzania has an account with NMB. NMB Loans have risen by 19% and deposits were up 27%, well above the market averages of 14% and 11% growth respectively, and profit after tax for the bank has shown strong growth at 36%.”
NMB has continued to remain relevant to its stakeholders in the long run, and to achieve its vision of becoming the preferred financial service partner in Tanzania, it must also deliver sufficient and sustainable results. In the year 2012, the bank operated in a favorable economic growth at some 7% p.a. The local financial markets also evolved favorably, with headline inflation gradually reducing to 12%.
During Annual General Meeting held on 1st June 2013, the bank reported a record Profit After Tax (PAT) of TZS 97 billion (up 36% from previous year) on total assets of TZS 2.8 trillion and return on shareholders’ funds of 27%, while retaining a strong balance sheet with a Non Performing Loan (NPL) ratio of less than 2.4%. The bank has also continued to gain market share in loans and deposits.
NMB is acknowledging the award with gratitude as we continue to recognize the huge developments the bank has gone through since its privatisation in 2005 in bringing affordable banking services to all Tanzanians.
Euromoney Magazine is the flagship title of London based financial communications company, Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC that has been coordinating Euromoney Awards for Excellence. The award is regarded as the benchmark awards for financial services globally; the Euromoney Awards for Excellence are now in their 23rd year. For year 2013, the awards process began in April and has attracted over 600 submissions from the world’s banks and brokerage houses. Euromoney has dedicated research team and awards panel that rate all the submissions on both quantitative and qualitative factors such as KPIs, financial ratios and innovation over the 12 month period to decide the award winners.
