National Microfinance Bank

National Microfinance Bank (NMB), is a commercial bank in Tanzania. It is one of the commercial banks licensed by the Bank of Tanzania, the national banking regulator.^[1]

Overview

As of December 2010^[update], the bank is a large financial services institution, providing commercial banking services to individuals, small to medium sized corporate clients, as well as large businesses.^[2] NMB is one of the largest commercial banks in Tanzania, with a total asset valuation of over US$1.41 billion (TZS:2.1 trillion), as of December, 2010. At that time, the bank's shareholders' equity was valued at approximately US$155 million (TZS:230.5 billion).^[3] The stock of the bank is listed on the Dar-es-Salaam Stock Exchange, under the symbol: NMB.^[4]

History

Following the break-up of the old National Bank of Commerce in 1997, by act of Parliament, three new entities were created: (a) NBC Holdings Limited (b) National Bank of Tanzania (1997) and (c) National Microfinance Bank. Initially NMB could only offer savings accounts, with limited lending capabilities.

In 2005, NMB was privatized and the Government of Tanzania, the sole owner of NMB until then, divested 49% shareholding to Rabobank of the Netherlands. Over the years since that time, further divestiture by the Tanzanian Government and subsequent listing of the bank's stock has led to a diversified ownership structure, as outlined under "Ownership".^[5]

Ownership

NMB is owned by institutions and private individuals as detailed in the table below:^[6]