PRESIDENT MWINYI APPOINTS ARAFAT HAJI MD OF PBZ BANK

• Arafat, a career banker, will now lead the Zanzibar-headquartered bank, which has assets of over TZS 2 trillion.

• He is expected to help increase the visibility of the state-owned bank in mainland Tanzania.

May 9, 2024

𝘽𝙮 𝙏𝘽𝙄 𝙍𝙚𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙧
Dar es Salaam

Zanzibar President, Hussein Mwinyi has appointed Arafat Ally Haji as Managing Director of the state-run People's Bank of Zanzibar (PBZ).

Arafat has served as CEO of the Zanzibar Insurance Corporation (ZIC) since June 2021.

Before being appointed as ZIC boss by President Mwinyi, he served as Group Treasurer for Exim Bank in Dar es Salaam, overseeing operations of the group in Tanzania, the Comoros, Djibouti, and Uganda.

With over 15 years of experience in the banking sector, Arafat's appointment to the new role at PBZ sees him returning to his career as a banker.

He takes over from Dr. Muhsin Masoud as head of the Zanzibar-headquartered bank.

Dr. Masoud is credited with overseeing a period of strong growth for the top-tier PBZ Bank since taking over in 2021.

Last year alone, the profit-making bank reported a 44% jump in total assets to TZS 2.05 trillion, cementing its position as one of the Top 10 biggest banks in Tanzania by assets.

At ZIC, Arafat helped to increase the visibility of the state-run insurance company in mainland Tanzania and introduced new innovative services.

He is expected to lead the expansion of PBZ beyond it's Zanzibar base by opening more branches in mainland Tanzania.

PBZ has been seeking to expand its operations to mainland Tanzania, as it ventures beyond it's traditional home market in the Indian Ocean archipelago.

The bank launched a new branch in the nation's capital Dodoma in December last year and announced plans to expand its network across more mainland Tanzania towns and cities this year.

PBZ has 45 service centres, with 11 centres being in mainland Tanzania and the remaining 34 in Zanzibar.

The bank currently employs close to 500 people.

Zanzibar's state-owned enterprises have traditionally been parochial, rarely venturing beyond the islands and when they have, only doing so on a small scale.

Arafat studied banking and finance at the Institute of Finance Management (IFM) and holds an MBA in information technology from Coventry University.

Tanzania Business Insight