ZANZIBAR President Dr Hussein Mwinyi last February appointed a seasoned banker and former University of Dar es Salaam Lecturer Dr Muhsin Salim Masoud to head the People’s Bank of Zanzibar (PBZ). In an interview with Staff Writer MASATO MASATO, the new Managing Director vows to transform the fivedecade old financial institution into a trillion bank within three years…
Q: CONGRATULATIONS for the new responsibilities.
THANK you!
Q: Any new vision that you are bringing in Zanzibar’s 55-year old and largest financial institution?
The People’s Bank of Zanzibar (PBZ), as you rightly put it, is the oldest and largest financial institution in Zanzibar. Yes, I have a vision, which is well articulated in our fiveyear-2021/2025-strategic plan, currently under the approval levels.
We aspire for operational efficient, affordable and competitive commercial bank that accommodates a fully-fledged subsidiary Islamic Bank in Zanzibar and mainland Tanzania.
Q: It’s almost half a year since you were appointed to your current post on February 11, 2021. How did you find the bank, operationally?
As I have already said, PBZ is the industry giant in Zanzibar both in terms of profitability and asset growth. But, there are still untapped business potentials, which we are determined to explore, exhaustively. We want to amplify the impressive performance that the bank already enjoys.
We envisage retail business especially issuance of financing to employees; we also target corporate customers albeit cautiously. Generally, we want to widen the scope of businesses via more branches particularly on Tanzania mainland; increase the number of service centres and recruit more PBZ agents.
Plans are underway to establish an aggressive business department, which will be entrusted with the task of promoting the bank’s business, with the aim of making PBZ one of the largest banks in Tanzania. We aspire becoming the trillion-bank by 2023.
Q: Briefly, how is PBZ performing in the industry especially now that the entire world is grappling with the devastating effects of COVID-19?True, Covid-19 has had devastating effects to not only PBZ or Zanzibar but the entire global economy. Of course, for the nature of our business, which relies on tourism sector, we were hard hit especially during the lockdowns. Fortunately, Tanzania and Zanzibar in particular had been instituting remedial measures against the outbreak.These measures helped to boost confidence on Zanzibar as the best place to visit. Last year, we received many Russian tourists whose support to the economy we highly appreciate.Q: Generally, how can you describe the environment for the […]
