TABORA:NATIONAL Cooperative Bank has applied for the license after collecting 18bn/- as seed capital.
The Co-op Bank is considering opening doors before this year’s end after obtaining a license from the central bank since the regulatory capital requirement is 15bn/-. The bank, however, is 2.0bn/- short of its target of 20bn/-.
CRDB Bank alone contributed 10bn/- of the seed capital.
The decision to form the national co-op bank received support and accolades from the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy, Dr Doto Biteko.
The Deputy PM commended the CRDB for its active participation in the process of establishing a National Co-op Bank for the betterment and development of the cooperative sector.
“CRDB has made great contribution to this bank. This new bank will help, to a great extent, solve the capital challenges faced by farmers and cooperatives in general,” said Dr Biteko when marking the International Day of Cooperatives in Tabora over the weekend.
The Tanzania Cooperative Development Commission (TCDC) Chairman, Mr Abdulmajid Nsekela, said that in the last two years the commission has overseen the establishment of the national Co-op Bank.
“We set the goal of collecting 20bn/- to establish the bank, but until now we have collected some 18bn/- enough to complete this process. “CRDB has invested some 10bn/- as capital for national Co-op Bank,” said Mr Nsekela during the World Cooperative Day.
The chairman said the cooperative is digitally run after bringing into the system 6,361 unions which has now 1,604,224 members.
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Mr Nsekela said the improvements have enabled cooperatives to operate commercially, reviving and building new industries, increasing the value of farmers’ produce, and encouraging cooperatives in various sectors and special groups such as livestock, fishing and mining to strengthen the investment of cooperative assets.
“The commission coordinated the exercise of identifying assets of grade B cooperatives and SACCOs,” Mr Nsekela said.
The commission identified a total of 610 cooperatives’ assets with a value of 4.2tri/. CRBD’s Western Zone Manager, Jumanne Wagana said they not only invested in the national Co-op Bank but also offered expertise on how to run the bank.
“The investment and expertise offered shapes the establishment of the National Cooperative Bank,” Mr Wagana said.
Additionally, CRDB has offered 1.81tri/- worth of loans until June, which was equal to 43 per cent of all loans provided by banks to the agricultural sector in the country.
Out of the agri-loans the lender dished out, 944.6bn/- were loaned to small farmers who are members of 541 Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Society (AMCOS) AMCOS.
CRDB has invested 3.2bn/- and 7.0bn/- to turnaround Tandahimba Community Bank (TACOBA) and Kilimanjaro Cooperative Bank (KCBL) respectively