RC urges banks to boost formal financial services

Daily News reporter

Some Tanzania’s Banking Sector

ZANZIBAR: UNGUJA Urban-West Regional Commissioner Idrissa Kitwana Mustafa has urged banks in the country to device innovative products and services for easy

accessibility.Mr Mustafa said that the efforts to up access to financial services align with aspirations of President Samia Suluhu Hassan and President Dr Hussein Mwinyi to uplift Tanzanians from abject poverty.

He was speaking here at the weekend after gracing the ‘NMB Pesa Haachwi Mtu’ initiative, which is an opportunity for the ordinary folks to access formal financial services.

“The massive opening of the NMB digital account is part of the wider strategic engagements the lender is using to on-board new customers and include them into the formal financial system,” he said.

According to Statista, as of January this year, 23.3 per cent of the population aged 15 years and older had an account at a financial institution in Tanzania, which was the same rate as the preceding year.

In the period under review, the penetration rate of bank accounts reached a peak in 2021, with a rate of 46.8 per cent.

The NMB Pesa Account proposition and the ongoing public awareness campaigns are grand endeavours by adding tremendous value in advancing the national digital financial inclusion agenda.

“I call upon my people of Kibanda Maiti, Zanzibaris and all Tanzanians to embrace this opportunity because it enables them to benefit from the innovative solutions of NMB Bank,” Mr Kitwana said, calling on other lenders to craft similar services supporting financial freedom and advancing economic empowerment.

Unguja Urban District Commissioner, Mr Rashid Msalaka, commended NMB for supporting government initiatives seeking to better lives and spur development.

The bank’s Chief of Retail Banking, Mr Filbert Mponzi, mostly dwelt on benefits of NMB Pesa whose automatic eligibility for NMB Mkononi he said include the opportunity to digitally access the unsecured Mshiko Fasta microloans of between 1,000/- and 1m/-.

According to him, the novel financing solution suits ordinary folks the most particularly MSMEs borrowers.