NMB Bank wins coveted award

Dar es Salaam. NMB Bank Plc has won the ‘Safest Bank in Tanzania Award’ for the year 2020. This is thanks to its concerted efforts at maintaining stability and profitability amid the global Covid-19 pandemic battle.

Listed with the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE), the lender was so-ranked on Monday, October 20, 2020, by Global Finance, a financial markets magazine based in New York, US.

Annual rankings of the World’s Safest Banks by country are selected after an evaluation of long-term foreign currency ratings from Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and the Fitch Investor Services - in addition to the total assets of 500 largest banks worldwide, of which NMB received a significant ranking over other banks.

“For most of 2020, the worldwide (Covid-19) pandemic upended commerce and made forecasting even more difficult; yet, business must continue. NMB is an example of a bank that was ready for the sharp rise in demand for digital banking services during the pandemic and has been mostly stable,” the publisher and editorial director of Global Finance, Joseph Giarraputo, said in a statement that was availed to the media in Dar es Salaam yesterday.

The rankings are used by firms, investors and individuals to gauge the relative safety of the banks they do business with.

The award comes a few months after NMB was named the ‘Best Bank in Tanzania’ for the eighth consecutive year by Euromoney, a global financial markets magazine based in London.

NMB’s chief executive officer (CEO) Ruth Zaipuna said her team was working tirelessly to evolve the bank’s capabilities to deliver sustained returns.

“As uncertainty surrounding businesses in the world’s post Covid-19 still lingers on, this award is a testament of our stability, resilience and digital transformation capabilities in supporting employees, customers and the wider community to achieve financial success,” she said.

In its 2019 financial performance, NMB Bank reported a Sh142 billion profit after tax, a 46 percent increase from the Sh98 billion recorded in 2018 - thus retaining its position as the most profitable bank for over a decade.

NMB currently has total assets of over Sh7 trillion. Its shareholder base includes Rabobank - which holds a 34.9 percent stake - and the Government of Tanzania, with a 31.8 percent share-holding.