With a balance sheet of 14 trillion Tanzanian shillings (about $5.3bn) and a growing footprint across the east African region, the CRDB Bank is now the largest commercial bank in Tanzania.
Current managing director and group chief executive officer Abdulmajid Mussa Nsekela first joined in 1997 as a bank officer and has played an important role in changing the banks fortunes since taking on the leadership. Since then, the banks cost-to-income ratio has receded to under 50% (it was above 60%); non-performing loans have shrunk from around 11% to 2.9%; and profits have grown by 500% over this period.
Technology focusThe turnaround strategy, which Nsekela concedes was already in motion when he assumed office, was based on three pillars. The first was to fix the existing machine. Second was about creating an enabler and the last was to build a bank of the future.
What he added, he explains, was to reform the operating model, to assess and leverage the opportunities available, and to infuse technology into the operations of the bank.
Our cost-to-income ratio was quite significant, so we had to look at how to become more efficient and that meant cutting costs, he reflects. In practice that entailed automating more of the banks processes and moving back-office staff to the front office. The bank also had to consolidate some of its activities, such as integrating its microfinance division into its mainstream operations.
