CRDB Bank and Denmark’s Ambassador to Tanzania on Tuesday met and deeply discussed ways of further strengthening the existing business relationships.
The discussion came at a time the lender, one of the largest banks in the country, posted a historic net profit of 353bn/- last year compared to 268bn/- in 2021.
The talks between CRDB’s Managing Director Abdulmajid Nsekela and Danish Ambassador Ms Mette Nørgaard Dissing-Spandet centred on bettering the cooperation between the lender and Danida, Denmark’s development cooperation.
Ambassador Dissing-Spandet told the CRDB team that she was pleased with the good 2022 financial results, which “is a good indicator for the future results”.
The CRDB stellar performance was attributed to the strategic intention the lender put to increase revenue sources that saw the portfolio raised 13 per cent to 400bn/- from 354bn/- year on year basis.
According to Mr Nsekela, the record increase was also fuelled by transactions upsurge mainly through digital channels.
“There is no better time to discuss our historical relationship than this time when the bank made a historical profit last year,” Mr Nsekela said.
In general, he said, CRDB’s shareholders including Danida in partnership with the government of Tanzania are proud of being part of the bank, which is successful and are sure of doubling of dividends this year.
The history of the Danida and CRDB relationship started way back and its roots were planted through diplomatic relations between Tanzania and Denmark.
CRDB started as Cooperative Rural Development Bank, however, went through difficult times to the verge of collapsing and was rescued by Danida through the Danish Investment Fund (DIF) after the government of Tanzania request.
The entry of DIF as an investor was able to bring about reforms in the bank which led to its rebirth as CRDB Bank. Several years later, CRDB reached the status of being listed on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE). Yesterday the bank share appreciated by 1.23 per cent to 410/-.
DIF started by buying 247,014 shares in 2002 before increasing its investment to 548,067,648 shares in 2021, which equals 21 per cent of all CRDB shares.
The Danish government has continued its cooperation with the bank and has now invested through Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU), in CRDB’s subsidiary in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In terms of dividends, DIF and the government of Tanzania received 247m/- in 2002. The amount climbed to 19.7bn/- in 2021.