First National Bank Tanzania to Open New Branch

First National Bank (FNB) announced its plans to open a fourth branch in Dar es Salaam by the first quarter of 2013.

The branch, to be located in the trade district of Kariakoo, is aimed at serving the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) market.

First National Bank CEO Mr Richard Hudson said, “We are excited about opening the Kariakoo branch, our first SME focused branch. Our unique SME focused product offerings are as a result of our interactions to date with our customers that have provided valuable insights to the needs of the sector.”

FNB confirmed its involvement in the SME segment by participating to the Financial Services Week held in October 2012 in Dar es Salaam and to the training in financial literacy, especially focused on the SMEs.

Commenting on such participation, Mr Warwick Brooker, Head of Business and Commercial said, “Our participation at the event revealed to us the divergent needs of the sector, we have SME players that have a good understanding of financial services, and are currently benefiting from our services, and a larger majority who have not yet had the opportunity to make use of our products and services for the benefit of their businesses.”

He added, “With the Kariakoo branch, we bring with us our vast experience on SME banking solutions from our other subsidiaries in Sub Saharan Africa, and have developed unique localised banking solutions for the SME’s in Tanzania.”

The FNB Group which is headquartered in South Africa has a vision to become Africa’s preferred financial services leader. FNB currently has full branch banking operations in Zambia, Mozambique, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana and Namibia.

First National Bank officially launched in Tanzania on February 2012.