An open day for CRDB customers in Dar es salaam. The bank is seeking to expand into the region. PHOTO | COURTESY | CRDB The largest bank by assets and market share in Tanzania, CRDB had started its regional expansion in 2012 but had to put the plans on ice in 2016 due to financial inadequacy.
CRDB, which is listed on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange has lined up mineral-rich Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as the first point of entry through Greenfield Investments in the next 12 months.
The DRC has become a fertile hunting ground for top EA banks firms looking to consolidate their positions in a country tipped to become one of the richest economies on the continent and a driver of African growth.
Tanzania’s CRDB Bank Plc is planning an ambitious programme that could see it expand into seven countries in East and Central Africa.
The largest bank by assets and market share in Tanzania, CRDB had started its regional expansion in 2012 but had to put the plans on ice in 2016 due to financial inadequacy.
The lender, now with improved cash flows and with close to $3 billion worth of assets, hopes to join regional banking giants — Equity and KCB — which have been racing towards transforming into Pan-African banks with assets in excess of $10 billion, only for their efforts to be frustrated by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
CRDB, which is listed on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange has lined up mineral-rich Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as the first point of entry through Greenfield Investments in the next 12 months.
The DRC has become a fertile hunting ground for top EA banks firms looking to consolidate their positions in a country tipped to become one of the richest economies on the continent and a driver of African growth, if it overcomes its political instability and improve governance, according to the World Bank.
Fundamentals
“Initially the bank had plans to go to DRC, but it ended up going to Burundi in 2012 and in 2016 the bank never performed well so they decided to stop the expansion to make sure that they cleaned the house first. When I joined the bank in 2018 the first step was to create the right foundation and put all the fundamentals in the right direction and last year (2019) we opted that we […]
