EUROMONEY NAMES NMB AS THE BEST BANK IN TANZANIA

NMB Bank Plc. Managing Director, Ineke Bussemaker (right) receives the "Best Bank in Tanzania" award at a ceremony held in London on July 11th, 2018.

• NMB is the most profitable bank in Tanzania for over a decade

Euromoney has named NMB Bank as the Best Bank in Tanzania for the sixth year in a row. The award is a result of the bank’s continued outstanding performance in the market through financial inclusion initiatives and the bank’s digital banking services transformation.

On NMB’s success, Euromoney said: "The journey to becoming the Best Bank in Tanzania is about providing financial education, transforming financial behavior and expanding the opportunities for people to use financial services. That's exactly what NMB Bank has done. Their investment in technology solutions has enabled them to better address customer needs through products such as mobile banking, card solutions, light KYC products and Agency Banking. This is unmatched in their sphere of influence.”

"We have seen remarkable efforts towards financial inclusion taking place globally and these initiatives have been successfully implemented," Euromoney said. "The commitment NMB has shown towards solving the challenge of Tanzania’s unbanked is a combination of continuous investment in digital banking, innovation and the ability to provide payment and collection solutions for key players such as the Government. We highly acknowledge and applaud NMB Bank for this.”

“This is an excellent recognition for our people- their passion and commitment in supporting our customers especially because of the economic headwinds we experienced in 2017- we proved to be resilient. We are delighted to make history by winning the Best Bank Award in Tanzania for the sixth time in a row. I would like to extend our grateful thanks to our customers for their trust and support. The bank has embarked in a digital transformation strategy as pioneer to bring in technology-enabled products, processes and services to customers. We are witnessing the fruits of this journey to our customers and this award is a testament to it,” said CEO Ineke Bussemaker in the Euromoney Awards which took place last night.

She further added, the use of technology has been instrumental to the bank’s achievement as we have succeeded to offer our customers alternative banking channels by deploying over 800 ATMs, over 6000 NMB Wakala (Agency Banking), Mobile and Internet Banking and our integration with Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and now the use of MasterCard enabling NMB MasterCard cardholders to be able to pay at over 24 million locations worldwide and use over 1 million ATMs globally.

The awards were decided by the editors of Euromoney Magazine and the Best Bank award was picked up by the Managing Director Ineke Bussemaker at an awards ceremony in London on July 11th.

NMB was able to grow the total income by 5% in 2017 amid challenging business environment from TZS 614billion in 2016 to TZS 647billion in 2017. The bank’s customer business remained strong and recorded a Profit after Tax of TZS 95billion.

The bank has also won other awards this year including; Banker Africa Awards for Best Commercial and Best Retail Bank in Tanzania, Workplace Health & Safety Management Award by Occupational Health and Safety (OSHA) an emerged a finalist for Economic Citizenship Award by Global Inclusion Awards.

About NMB

NMB is the leading bank in Tanzania, with over 225 branches, over 2.5 million customers and over 800 ATMs countrywide. NMB pioneered major innovations in the market including agency banking (NMB Wakala), mobile banking and Pesa Fasta- an ATM based remittance product targeted at the unbanked. NMB is also making inroads in corporate banking, treasury, and transactional services such as corporate payments, collections and trade finance.

NMB plays an important role in the agricultural value chain and pioneered warehouse receipt financing for the country’s Saccos and Amcos. London Based Super Brand council that run research across 84 countries has named NMB among top 20 brands in Tanzania for 2013/14 and emerged number one in the banking industry. NMB has also been awarded Best Bank in Tanzania by Euromoney in 2013, 2014, 20015, 20016, 2017and 2018.

About Euromoney

For almost 50 years, Euromoney has been the leading publication for covering the growth of international finance. Over the last 12 months, its coverage has included interviews with close to 100 bank CEOs, ministers of finance and central bank governors around the world.

Euromoney's Awards for Excellence are the awards that matter to the banks and bankers who matter. They were established in 1992 and were the first of their kind in the global banking industry. This year, Euromoney received almost 1,500 submissions from banks in an awards programme that covers 20 global awards, more than 50 regional awards, and best bank awards in close to 100 countries.