Tanzania: Bank of Tanzania Fines NBC for Data Breach

Bank of Tanzania headquarter in Dar es Salaam. 

In Summary

• NBC Bank has been slapped with a Sh1 billion penalty for failure to establish secondary data centre, only a month after the Diamond Trust Bank was given a similar penalty.

By The Citizen Reporter @TheCitizenTZ news@thecitizen.co.tz

By The Citizen Reporter

Dar es Salaam — The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) yesterday slapped the National Bank of Commerce (NBC) with Sh1 billion fine for the failure to establish a data centre as the government seeks to

tighten regulatory oversight of the banking sector.

NBC Bank, largely owned by South African lender Absa, becomes the second bank in two months to be penalised by the central bank for breaching data and service availability regulations.

NBC authorities were not immediately available for comment by press time.

The BoT directed banks and financial institutions in 2014 to establish primary or secondary data centres, warning of hefty fines for non-compliance.

Last month, BoT fined Diamond Trust Bank Tanzania Limited Sh1 billion for breaching the same regulatory rules.

Last week, BoT issued a new directive requiring all banks and financial institutions to establish a primary data centre within three months or face an increased fine of Sh5 billion.

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"The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) has imposed a penalty charge of one billion shillings to National Bank of Commerce Limited (NBC) for failure to implement directives to establish either a primary or secondary data centre in the country," the central bank said in a statement posted on its website.

"The Bank of Tanzania has noted with serious concern that NBC did not implement the directive for establishing a secondary data centre in the country, despite confirming in writing that it has implemented the directive," the statement further reads.

"In addition to the penalty explained above, additional charge of 10 per cent of the penalty amount will be imposed to NBC for every month in which the non-compliance continues."

The central bank said it has issued three previous circulars to banks and financial institutions since 2014 on the requirement for primary or secondary data centres to be located in Tanzania, but some lenders were yet to comply.