Bank of Tanzania approves merger of Postal, Women's banks

Dar es Salaam. Bank of Tanzania (BoT) has approved the merger of the Tanzania Women’s Bank (TWB) and Tanzania Postal Bank (TPB) effective Friday, August 3.

Following this move, the financial entity will now be known as TPB and that TWB’s customers, workers, assets and debts will be transferred to TPB.

Central bank Governor Florens Luoga made the revelation on Thursday, August 2, when briefing journalists in the city about the mergers which also includes Tandahimba Community Bank (Tacoba) and Kilimanjaro Cooperative Bank (KCBL) being removed from receivership after meeting all requirements.

Prof Luoga said according to the Bankers and Financial Institutions Act of 2006 which gives BoT the mandate to supervise financial institutions to ensure their stability and endurance in the sector, on January 4, this year increased six months receivership on three banks.

He named the banks as Tacoba, KCBL and TWB which were given until June 30, this year to have reached the Sh2 billion capital thresholds for community banks, and a further one month until July 31, this year to have completed procedures for increasing the capital.

He noted that through the government’s strategy for improving structure of its state owned banks, TWB and TPB bank shareholders have decided to merge the two so as to improve their management.

“Through Bankers and Financial Institutions 30(1) (a) Act, BoT has approved the merger as of August 3, this year, to be known as TPB,” he stressed.

He called on TWB customers to exercise patience during the transition of the merge while other procedures continue including service that will be delivered by the banks management.