International Commercial Bank Presence in Tanzania Banking Increased

According to a report by AfricaNews, the International Commercial Bank (ICB) has recently announced that plans are underway for it to begin expanding its presence in the Tanzania banking sector as a way to support an increased customer base.

ICB Tanzania was originally established in 1997, but according to the current Chief Executive officer for the ICB, Venal Ramani, the bank is currently looking to open addition branches upcountry.

Mr. Ramani went on to explain that the general purpose for the expansion was to ensure that as many people as possible would be included in the country’s banking sector and have access to the state-of-the art services that would be rendered by the bank.

Mr. Ramani, who spoke in Dar es Salaam over the weekend, said that his bank would seek to provide customer oriented services based on the individual customer’s needs and views.

“ICB will continue to pursue its strategy of expanding its network to key commercial areas and to serve the communities in the country,” he said.

Over the last fourten years, the ICB Banking Group has been busily establishing various commercial banks throughout Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia.

Today, the bank has operations in thirteen different countries as well as the advantage of more than ten years of experience in the field of banking in a global environment along with a team of managers that are both skilled, experienced and resourceful.

Some of the countries in which the ICB Bank currently operates include Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Djibouti, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique as well as offering its services in Albania, Laos, Bangladesh and Indonesia.

“We are concentrating on small- and medium-sized businesses as well as retail banking,” said Mr. Ramani, “although we provide the full range of banking services such as wholesale, and commercial banking [as well].”

As of 2004, the various individual ownerships of the ICB Banking Group have become corporatized and currently fall under the umbrella of the Swiss-based holding company known as the ICB Financial Group Holdings AG.

According to the company’s website, the ICB Financial Group Holdings AG was later listed on AIM market of the London Stock Exchange on May 17th, 2007.

Following this listing, the ICB Financial Group began establishing its presence in the Asian market through the acquisition of an indirect stake of 11.3 percent in the Bank International Indonesia, one of the largest banks in Indonesia at the time.