NMB launches first ATM with currency exchange function

Dar es Salaam. You can now get dollars, euros or pounds at NMB Bank Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), thanks to a new service that was launched in Dar es Salaam yesterday.

The machines will be placed at Tanzania’s three main international airports of Julius Nyerere in Dar es Salaam, Abeid Amani Karume in Zanzibar and Kilimanjaro so that Tanzanians travelling abroad, as well as tourists entering the country, can exchange their money at the machines. “From now on, a customer can exchange up to $2,000 at one time at the bank’s exchange rate. This means that a customer can deposit dollars, euros and pounds at the ATM - and get Tanzania shillings, back” said the NMB Bank’s chief executive officer, Ms Ruth Zaipuna.

The service can be accessed by both NMB customers and non-customers, she said.

According to Ms Zaipuna, the launch means that cash currency exchange can now be conducted more easily, and faster than before.

“It is also completely self-service… We have started with the three major currencies of USD, GBP and EUR; but more currencies are on our cards,” she said.

NMB Bank Plc ventured into the money exchanging business at full swing early last year (2019) after the government closed forex bureaux over allegations that some of them were engaging in tax evasion, money laundering and other illegal transactions.

The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) called upon commercial banks to step in and improve their cash foreign exchange services, prompting NMB Bank to start offering money changing services through its network of 225 branches countrywide. The bank also operates bureaux de change facilities at the Kilimanjaro International Airport, the Julius Nyerere International Airport and at the AIM Mall in Arusha.

“Thus, NMB FX ATM machines have come at the right time to bridge the gap in both services availability (24hrs) and safety,” she said.