KCBL to operate as commercial bank

Moshi. The Kilimanjaro Cooperative Bank Limited (KCBL) will be streamlined to become a full fledged commercial bank.

A task force to spearhead the process has been formed and will be headed by Clement Kwayu as the chairperson.

This was announced here over the weekend by the Kilimanjaro Regional Commissioner Anna Mghwira.

She said the task force would oversee the operations of the financial institution  for a period of three months from December 1st this year.

She added the interim leaders of the Moshi-based bank has been tasked to turn around KCBL into a commercial bank in line with Bank of Tanzania (BoT) guidelines.

Other members of the team are  Dr. Hawa Sinari,Altemius Millinga, Reginald Hosea and Joseph Kingazi who is the general manager.

Ms Mghwira took the opportunity to dissolve the board of the bank, saying this has been necessitated by the change of status and the imminent streamlining.

Speaking during a media briefing, Mr. Kwayu said one of the tasks ahead under the restructuring was to mobilise people to buy shares in KCBL in order to increase its capital.

KCBL was launched in 1996, becoming the first cooperative bank in the country. It is owned by 100 per cent by the indigenous Tanzanians.

One of its aims was to strengthen the primary cooperative societies.

Until recently it had 245 members who were the agricultural marketing cooperative societies (AMCOS), savings and credit cooperative societies (Saccos) and 307 individuals.

The bank, which operated in six districts in Kilimanjaro,is credited to have pioneered the warehouse receipt system.