TPB Bank’s financial inclusion agenda

  

TPB Bank PLC Chief Executive Officer Sabasaba Moshingi.

Summary

• TPB Bank’s market outreach of 84 outlets makes it one of the local lenders with the largest branch networks in the country that enables it to reach out to many Tanzanians and actively promote financial inclusion.
• Tanzanians grew up with TPB Bank and the bank occupies a special place in their minds. This is why Tanzanians are so passionate and feel such an inclination towards TPB Bank, a bank that is largely owned by the government.
• In January 2017, TPB Bank changed its name and logo from the previous Tanzania Postal Bank to TPB Bank Plc.
• This was done so as to be compliant with the Banking and Financial Institutions Act, 2006 that requires all banks to be registered under the Companies Act. The change of name necessitated a change in the logo and tagline to reflect the new look and feel.
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History and market outreach
This bank started as the Tanganyika Post Office Savings Bank in 1925, making it one of the oldest banks in Tanzania.
TPB Bank has 84 branches (48 full-fledged branches and 36 mini branches) that reach every region in Tanzania.
This is one of the largest branch networks in the country and we are able to reach out to many Tanzanians and actively promote financial inclusion.

Products and services portfolio
TPB Bank Plc offers a whole array of products and services to suit all Tanzanians.

Our loan products include the revolutionary Wastaafu Loan (loan to pensioners) where we have partnered with all pension funds and lend out money to members of all schemes.
We also have business loans, micro credits, group-lending and consumer loans. We also provide cash collection services, for other banks like Citi Bank, Standard Chartered and Higher Education Students Loans Board.
We have money transfer services under the Western Union Money Transfer service as well as salary processing. As you can see, we offer the full range of financial services that would suit any corporate entity or individual.
We will continue to strengthen our outreach by continuously modernizing our branches and opening mini branches while leveraging technology.

Supporting economic development
TPB Bank has assumed a multi-pronged approach to economic development in Tanzania. Our approach focuses on the unbanked and under-banked and is underpinned by our values of customer focus, integrity, financial inclusion, affordability and quality.
We are aggressively signing-up village community banks (VICOBA) to bring them into the mainstream financial system and we are looking to partner with micro-finance institutions to lend money.
As a bank, we have positioned ourselves as a conduit for the breadth of financial transactions that Tanzanians wish to make to advance economically. From mobile money, we have partnered with M-PESA, Airtel Money, Tigo Pesa, Ezy Pesa, and Halotel Money so that our customers can have the best of mobile money and banking services.

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Strategic partnerships
The partnership with mobile money operators gave birth to M-KOBA, a group saving product and Songesha, an overdraft facility whereby customers can easily be access the product through mobile phones.
TPB Bank provides international money transfers with Western Union so that remittances can be sent to families in Tanzania or to Tanzanians in diaspora.
We acknowledge that tax payments help build a strong public sector, so Tanzanians can make TRA payments at any TPB branch. To mitigate the risk of unforeseen events, Tanzanians can also make insurance payments; we cover the full scope of financial transactions that benefit Tanzania’s economic development.
As we build our outreach with our famous mobile banking product TPB POPOTE and agency banking, we are offering current businesses an opportunity to not just widen their revenue streams but also by associating with us, lift up the profile of their businesses to stand out from the competition.
All these actions are helping to foster a culture of saving and helping Tanzanians have more control of their future. As you can see, we are closely intertwined with the economic development of Tanzania.

Umoja Switch connection
TPB Bank is part of the Umoja Switch network. The Umoja Switch network has over 350 ATM’s and TPB has 84 ATM’s in this network. We have the benefit of being able to reach out to all bank customers whose banks use Umoja and this is as diverse as NCBA and BOA to TPB and Azania.
Furthermore, with M-PESA customers being able to transact on Umoja ATM’s, this further widens our outreach to more potential customers.
Competitors can find areas of common interest and partnership and work together in a mutually beneficial way. The Umoja Switch consortium shows that this is possible - the key issue is for competitors to look for areas of common understanding.
TPB is committed to making a positive difference in the society by sharing some of its profits with the society in which it thrives.

CSR investments
Being one of the leading financial institution in the provision of quality banking services in the country, TPB has a responsibility to ensure that its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities are effective and sustainable. Our CSR focus is on three main areas: Education, Health and Social Welfare.