Exim Bank completes acquisition of FNB Tanzania

Dar es Salaam. Exim Bank Tanzania has completed the acquisition of assets and liabilities of First National Bank (FNB) Tanzania Limited as it ups its expansion plan domestically and regionally.

The move comes almost nine months after Exim Bank Tanzania signed the offer to acquire certain assets and liabilities of FNB Tanzania on October 26, 2021.

The signing paved the way for regulators to start scrutinising the deal, compelling the Fair Competition Commission (FCC) to start looking for stakeholders’ inputs through its January 10, 22 public announcement.

Exim Bank’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr Mr Jaffari Matundu, said at the weekend that regulators, including the Bank of Tanzania (BoT), have okayed the deal and that clients with FNB are now banking with Exim Bank.

This is the second acquisition by Exim Bank Tanzania after that of UBL Tanzania which was sealed three years ago.

“We are excited to welcome former FNB Bank customers to the Exim family,” he said at the weekend.

Exim Bank Tanzania was established almost 25 years ago. It has since expanded to the Comoros, Djibouti, Uganda and Ethiopia, boasting a total of Sh2.4 trillion in asset size throughout the region.

According to Mr Matundu, Exim Bank generated a pre-tax profits of Sh18 billion during the first half of the current calendar year, up from only Sh6 billion that was registered during a similar period last year.

Total assets reached Sh1.5 trillion from Sh1.3 trillion over the past year while consumers’ deposits rose from Sh780 billion at the end of June last year to Sh943 billion in June this year.

Mr Matundu attributes the growth to a conducive environment that the banking sector was currently working in which was in line with President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s pro-business policies.