There are a total
of 19 commercial banks operating in Tanzania out of which 4 are
regional Banks, 9 foreign banks and 6 local banks where NMB and
PBZ are fully owned by the government and will soon be privatized.
The market is dominated by:
a) Government owned commercial banks.
These are NMB with 95 branches and PBZ, which is only present
in Zanzibar and Pemba. NBC is partly owned by the government with
the majority share holding been held by the ABSA Bank of South
Africa.
b) Multinational banks
Standard Chartered and Citibank were the only multinational bank
until Barclays Bank opened its doors in 2000. The three banks
have each a branch in Dar es Salaam while Standard Chartered and
Barclays both have a branch in Mwanza. Barclays opened a branch
in Zanzibar in 2004. The strategy of these banks is similar, i.e.
to service predominantly medium and large corporates, banking
business and donor intermediation business. The banks are well
placed to acquire this business on the basis of their reputation,
well-trained manpower and relatively superior technology. Barclays
and Standard Chartered Bank has diversified their business into
consumer banking installed ATMs in Dar es Salaam and has opened
branches in Arusha and Moshi. On the other hand Barclays Bank
has positioned its self as the big bank penetrating the consumer
market, which is similar to the approach Standard Chartered bank
is taking.
c) International Banks
International Banks represented in the country are Stanbic (a
subsidiary of Standard Bank of South Africa), International Bank
of Malaysia, Eurafrican Bank (an affiliate of the Banque Belgolaise),
Federal Bank of Middle East and Habib African Bank. Stanbic and
Eurafrican Bank have positioned themselves to mediate the business
flows from their respective countries. Eurafrican had initially
focused on financing exports in line with the strategy of Banque
Belgolaise in other parts of Africa.
d) Regional Banks
These are Diamond Trust Bank, Kenya Commercial Bank and United
Bank of Africa. Diamond Trust focus is to dominate the banking
business of the Asian Community, while Kenya Commercial Bank concentrates
on the Kenyan businesses and companies operating in Tanzania.
On a general note, these banks tend to focus on the small to medium
and retail banking business.
e) Local Private Banks
The local banks are Eximbank, Kilimanjaro Cooperative Bank
and Akiba Commercial Bank and their main focus is on small to
medium size business and retail banking. While Exim Bank being
Asian owned like Diamond Trust and Delphis Bank are positioned
to compete for the Asian business.
3. Financial Institutions:
The players in this sector are as follows:
a) Deposit taking Financial Institutions:
These institutions are involved in the activities of commercial
banks with the exemption that they are not authorised to open
current accounts.
The Financial institutions that are categorized under this group
are Azania Bancorp, Savings & Finance, Crown Finance Leasing
Company, Furaha Finance and Tanzania Postal Bank.
b) Non deposit taking Financial Institutions
This group comprises financial institutions that do not take deposits,
are involved in medium to long term financing and with products
directed at project financing and leasing. The names involved
in this business are Tanzania Investment Bank (TIB), Karadha Company.
c) Insurance
This sector, among other new players, has one major player, The
National Insurance Corporation (NIC) which is 100% government
owned.
The new entrants in the insurance sector are Jubilee Insurance,
Heritage Insurance Company and Alliance, who will enhance competition.
