AfricaPress-Tanzania: FOLLOWING acquisition by National Bank of Malawi earlier this year, Akiba Commercial Bank Plc will heavily invest in digital banking channels as the future of the industry heads tech savvy.
ACB Plc’s General Manager for Commerce, Webster Kaunga said in Dar es Salaam mid this week that the acquisition by NBM is an important milestone in the development of the bank which is facing cut throat competition in the crowded local market.
“The bank has found a strategic investor in National Bank of Malawi hence we are confident that the acquisition will help expand our business scope bearing in mind that NBM is one of the largest banks in the southern African region,” Kaunga said.
“This partnership with NBM has brought a great sense of rejuvenation and motivation among staff who not only want to ensure that banking services are available nationwide but also through digital platform,” he added.
He said the process of transforming the bank into a digital one is progressing well and that ACB will become one of big banks in the market with services extended to rural areas through digital platforms such as mobile phones and AkibaWakalas.
Currently, ACB provides mobile money services which enable customers to make transact online, pay bills buy airtime as well as pay taxes and fees to the government and its agencies through Treasury’s digital payment system.
Mobile money services are also offered through the unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) system which enables clients to conduct banking transactions through AkibaWakalas located throughout the country. In addition, the bank also offers other services such as deposits, loans, selling and buying of foreign currency and Western Union services.
He asserted that AkibaWakala services are available for the past three weeks now and already being preferred by clients who want easy and efficient access to banking services.”We believe that, through this service the bank becomes a good participant in supporting the government’s efforts to ensure financial inclusion for all Tanzanians,” the ACB GM noted.
“We have entered the market with a total of about 200 agents and our goal is to continue increasing them with the aim of covering the whole country,” he stated while stressing that heavy investment is digital channels is efficient and less costly compared to physical branches which are also prone to insecurity.
