VIDEO: Dr Kimei emotional as he narrates how CRDB made it

Arusha. With one year remaining to exit as CRDB Bank chief executive, Dr. Charles Kimei was  overcome by emotions on Saturday as he narrated the success stories of the financial institution he steered in the past 20 years.

He was almost in tears as he told the packed meeting hall at the Arusha International Conference Centre (AICC) that the bank made it to become the leading in capital assets and branch network because of team work.

"I had 13 directors whom we had worked together for many years. They advised me accordingly. They assisted me in discharging my duties. They sacrificed a lot", he said as he addressed the 23rd shareholders' conference.

The 65 year old banker said CRDB made great strides from humble beginning with only 20 branches in 1998 against 262 now and Sh. 4.3 trillion deposits from Sh. 40 billion 20 years ago due to innovation and diligence of its employees.

He also attributed the success of the bank to digital transformation, application of best practices in banking and consistency in delivering by the institution's large work force spread across the country.

"Success is one thing and capacity to be consistent is another. You can't reach far if you are not consistent", he said, noting that the bank staff had been innovative enough "with proper guidance" to enable it whither storms to the top.

Dr. Kimei reiterated that he would exit the financial house in May next year after serving as the managing director since 1998 and that the process to pick his successor would soon commence.

"This is not my a farewell address. I would still be around for another one year but I have to express my appreciation for the achievements made and the strong support I got from my staff and  shareholders, in particular", he pointed out.

He said despite the turbulences in the financial markets, CRDB Bank subsidiaries made profits, citing CRDB Bank Burundi which, according to him, made a Sh. 3.5bn profit last year from Sh. 2.3bn in 2016 and Sh.656 million in 2015.

The subsidiary, which established in 2014, operates three branches in Burundi but  could not expand its operations in the tiny country as earlier anticipated, according to the MD.

The other subsidiaries are CRDB Microfinance and CRDB Insurance Brokerage.

He admitted, however, that the bank was still facing challenges the entire banking sector has to grapple with, notably the non-performing loans (NPLs), noting that appropriate strategies were being put in place to address that.

According to him, most of the loans would from now on be channeled to the private sector because the treasury bonds were no longer profitable to the banks.

Last year CRDB BANK netted Sh. 36 billion as  profit , nearly a half of what  it generated in 2016.

The drop in profit has been attributed to accumulation of NPLs.

During 2016 CRDB made a profit of Sh. 63.7 bn with the dropping levels also attributed to an initiative set to clean up the loan book.