Tanzania’s biggest bank by assets and loans, CRDB, is actively exploring new markets in its landlocked neighbors and beyond the continent as it seeks to establish itself as a regional leader, its chair told Semafor.
The four-decade old banking group — which established its first international footprint in Burundi in 2012, followed by DR Congo 18 months ago — is now looking to Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia, said Neema Munisi Mori, speaking on the sidelines of the World Bank and IMF annual meetings in Washington, DC, last week. She said the bank had also established a representative office in Dubai and set up a China desk as part of its wider ambitions to expand its access to funding and partners.
CRDB, which had assets of around $6.5 billion at the end of 2024, is open to working with equity and debt investment partners, especially those that can support its cross-border expansion, as it did in DR Congo with Norway’s sovereign fund.