Dar es Salaam Tanzania, August 20, 2013 – Leading
Financial Services provider CRDB Bank PLC Tuesday launched Chinese Bankcard
Association’ s China UnionPay Service in a deliberate move to leverage
increasing trade between Tanzania and China.
Speaking
during the launch, CRDB Bank Managing Director and CEO Dr. Charles Kimei said
the DSE listed Bank will, effective this August, accept China UnionPay debit
cards at all its ATMs, and Point of Sale (POS) terminals across Tanzania and
Burundi in the first phase of adoption.
“We
want to make trading with China easy and more effective so that Tanzania can
benefit from the industrial prowess and expertise that China has to offer,”
said Dr. Kimei.
“The
China UnionPay Service will therefore add value to our “China Desk” business
unit which we set up earlier this year to facilitate trade transactions to and
from China,” he added.
According
to the MD, trade relations between the two countries continue to blossom saying
the historical
Sino-Tanzania political and economic ties have strengthened over the years. “By
late 2010, there were more than 300 Chinese companies registered in Tanzania,
with total registered capital of USD468 million,” he noted.
Already, CRDB Bank offers both Visa and MasterCard
services through its TemboCard debit and credit cards which have seen greater
adoption over the past few years. The second phase of adoption of the service
will see the bank issue China UnionPay-enabled cards similar to TemboCardVisa
and TembocardMasterCard. CRDB
Bank’s ATM network and POS terminals in Tanzania account for 20 percent and 30
percent of the local total respectively.
China UnionPay International President Mr. Xu Luode, remarking
at the launch said the service will go a long way in creating better business
relationships and further accentuate the Chinese trade relations with Africa in
the coming years. “China is a friend of Africa and launching this service in
Tanzania is a clear testament that China and Africa have a bright future
together,” Mr Luode said.
It is documented that in 2011, the total trade volume
between China and Tanzania stood at more than USD 2.15 billion, of which
China`s export was USD 1.66 billion and imports USD488 million - with economic pundits saying the numbers are
likely to double in the next few years.
Tanzanian Prime Minister Hon. Mizengo Pinda gracing
the occasion lauded CRDB’s “tenacity” to innovate saying that the Tanzanian
population was poised to benefit form greater financial inclusion with the
continued reforms in the banking sector. “With the increasing
number of banks and growing competition, recruiting new customers and
maintaining existing ones is one of the biggest challenges. An an edge in product innovation and
provision of alternative banking channels to the people will be the key
differentiating factors, “said Hon. Pinda.
CRDB Bank has in the recent months put on an aggressive approach
to the market with a series of innovations and responsive products in what the
bank’s leadership terms as deliberate strategic efforts aimed at growing the
bank’s market share while driving financial inclusion.
In June this year, the bank pioneered Agency Banking in Tanzania
with a view of delivering services to rural areas through the model which has
been successful in neighboring Kenya. Similarly, the bank has introduced long
term mortgage financing in the Tanzanian market dubbed Jijenge. These efforts, complemented by impressive financial
performance in 2012 and preceding years have seen the Bank’s shares appreciate by
over 128 per cent (128%)
since the beginning of the year to trade at an all-time high of TZS320 earlier
this month.
CEO
Dr. Charles Kimei maintains that the Bank remains committed to innovating
products that are geared towards enabling its customers benefit from available financial
services and enhance their respective capacities through adoption of modern,
secure and reliable banking solutions
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