Samia hails PBZ Bank for opening up more on Tanzania Mainland

The Vice-President, Ms Samia Suluhu Hassan, has commended the People’s Bank of Zanzibar (PBZ) for embarking on plans to open more branches in Tanzania mainland.

She was speaking after visiting the PBZ Bank pavilion at the Ngongo’s Nanenane Exhibition Grounds in this southern Tanzania’s Indian Ocean-side municipality. Ms Hassan noted that the bank’s move to open a new branch in Mtwara Region strategically aimed at boosting business and offer services to residents in all Southern Tanzania regions.

“I would like to commend you for opening branches in Tanzania Mainland, including the one you plan to open in Mtwara recently,” she said.

Earlier, PBZ Bank Marketing Manager, Mr Mohamed Nuh, said the bank was looking forward to opening a new branch in Mtwara by the end of this month. He said so far, PBZ has a total of 11 branches across the country and that Mtwara Branch will increase the tally to 12 branches. “

We have a total of 11 branches on both Zanzibar and Tanzania Mainland. We are focusing at opening more branches in various regions on Tanzania Mainland in the near future,” he said. According to Mr Nuh, PBZ Bank’s management is considering opening another branch in Dodoma after that of Mtwara and later Arusha and Mwanza regions respectively.

“Our focus now is on opening a new branch in Mtwara. We will then go to Dodoma, Arusha and later Mwanza.

All these are still plans but we hope that they will be implemented with time,” he said. Mr Nuh said that the bank aims at establishing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) banking in Mtwara purposely to support entrepreneurs in the region.

He said PBZ is doing everything in its capacity to support the government initiatives in building up greater financial inclusion. “We are looking forward to support SMEs in the southern regions. PBZ is supporting the government in building financial inclusion,” he reiterated.

The People’s Bank of Zanzibar Limited was established on June 30, 1966, in accordance with the Zanzibar Companies Decree (Cap 153). It is wholly owned by the government of Zanzibar.

It is one of the oldest commercial banks in Tanzania. It is also the only bank in Tanzania with its head office in Zanzibar. It dominates the Zanzibar market with about 50 per cent of the market share.