The Kilimanjaro Cooperative Bank Limited (KCBL) deposits have hit a record high of Sh. 4.5billion as it awaits massive transformation.
The capital went up to Sh.3 billion from Sh.1.8billion in November last year while loans to clients rose to Sh.3.2billion from Sh.200 million last December.
This emerged as the Moshi-based bank is gearing up for transformation to the National Cooperative Bank plc (NCB) of Tanzania early next year.
KCBL, the only surviving community bank after others closed down due to the cash crisis, withered storms to reduce the losses which nearly crippled it.
Until the third quarter of this year, it made a pre-tax profit of Sh. 20million, a sharp departure from a yearly loss of a whopping Sh.600million few years back.
The financial institution, established in 1996, has been under the management of CRDB Bank plc since 2018 when it risked closure due to the liquidity crisis.
Transformation of KCBL into the national cooperative bank is in the final stages, according to Faustine Nyangira, the acting general manager and head of ICT.
"The national cooperative bank (NCB) will be launched next year. We are currently looking for the minimum operating capital as required by the regulator", he said in Moshi last week.
The amount of the required capital could not be established but a senior KCBL official intimated to The Citizen in July that it could be Sh. 15billion .
Until then, some Sh. 8billion had been pledged by potential investors for what will be the first cooperative bank in the country's history since the 1960s.
Nonetheless, 51 percent of the shares will be owned by the cooperatives across the country.The remaining 49 percent will be sold to the public.
"This will not be any ordinary commercial bank. It will specifically focus on the cooperatives, Saccos and Amcos", said Mr. Nyangira in an interview.
After its launch, the proposed cooperative bank will open branches throughout the country, a process set to be accomplished by 2023.
In readiness for transformation, the bank recently
launched its Visa Card that will enable its clients to access cash through various automated teller machines (ATMs).
These are to include ATMs belonging to the bank and all the 570 ATMs across the country belonging to the CRDB Bank,its strategic investor.
CRDB Bank Visa Card holders will also be able to transact money using the KCBL and later the proposed cooperative bank's teller machines.
ATMs is one of the alternative banking channels for which KCBL is being supported by CRDB Bank; the others being agency banking and Mobile Banking.
In agency banking, KCBL will integrate its financial services with over 20,000 CRDB agencies across the country "to enable us to benefit from CRDB's wide coverage".
"We have started recruitment of KCBL agents and six were licensed on November 10th. We will continue to recruit", he said.
Through mobile banking applications service to be operationalized next year, clients will access banking services through their mobile phones.
KCBL board chair Dr. Gervas Machimu said the proposed NCB will not deviate from the agricultural value chain which hinged on the cooperatives.
He specifically called on the people of Kilimanjaro to buy more shares as the bank readies to spread country wide after the coming transformation.
KCBL has already sold 27.5 million shares worth Sh. 13.7billion and intends to raise its capital to Sh.100billion by 2025 through selling of more shares.
KCBL general manager Geoffrey Ng'urah recently acknowledged the market risks but said there were more prospects for the smooth take off of the bank.
"Sixty (60) percent of Tanzania's population is in the agri-business value chain and at least Sh. 2.3trillion are circulating in the agri-business value chain in the country every season", he said.
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