NMB Bank has been named Tanzania’s best bank by Euromoney in its 2018 awards for the excellent services sixth year in a row for financial inclusion initiatives and digital banking services.
According to a statement by NMB, the awards were due to outstanding performance in the market through financial inclusion initiatives and the bank’s digital banking services transformation. “The journey to becoming the Best Bank in Tanzania is as much 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,” the statement partly reads.
“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.”
The statement said NMB was hailed for the commitment NMB 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.
“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,” the banks Managing Director, Ineke Bussemaker is quoted as saying in the Euromoney Awards which took place in London on Wednesday evening.
“I would like to extend our grateful thanks to our customers for their trust and support. The bank has embarked on a digital transformation strategy as the 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.”
Bussemaker said the use of technology had been instrumental to the bank’s achievement as they have succeeded to offer their customers alternative banking channels by deploying over 800 ATMs, over 6000 NMB Wakala (Agency Banking), Mobile and Internet Banking.
The use of technology had also enabled integration with Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and 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. NMB was able to grow the total income by 5 percent in 2017 amid a challenging business environment from 614bn/- in 2016 to 647bn/- in 2017.