Amana Bank Limited, Tanzania’s first fully Sharia compliant bank has announced its audited financial results for the financial year ended 31 December 2012, reflecting strong growth in financing and deposits.
The Managing Director of Amana Bank Dr Idris Rashidi
This is the bank’s first full year of trading having commenced operations in November 2011. The bank started financing in April 2012 and by December 2012, the bank had disbursed total financing facilities amounting to TZS26 Billion.
The bank recorded TZS1.2 billion income from financing activities and TZS1 billion from non-funded income. The Bank closed the year with total mobilised deposits of TZS 34 billion. Total assets of the bank grew by 100% to TZS52 billion.
This is an outstanding performance for a bank which is in its first year of operations. “We are really pleased with the performance of our operations notwithstanding the loss after tax of TZS 4.9 billion which is expected of any start-up bank.
The achievements we have made, which were in line with our projections, could not have been achieved without the confidence and support shown by our valued customers,” Dr Idris Rashid, the bank’s Managing Director said.
Given the number of banks in the market and high level of competition, our staff have demonstrated that we can exceed our customers’ expectations,” he said. In the year 2012, the Bank added two new branches namely Nyerere Road and Main (located at Golden Jubilee Towers, Ohio Street) in addition to Tandamti Street Branch, Kariakoo Business District, making a total of 3 branches, all in Dar es Salaam, with a customer base of 4093.
In April 2013, the bank opened additional branches in Lumumba Street, Kariakoo Business District, Arusha and its sixth branch in Mwanza. Amana Bank is a fully fledged commercial bank offering a wide variety of products and services specially designed to meet its customers’ needs.
During the year, the Bank added new services by introducing internet and SMS banking, TRA Asybank Tax Payment and Western Union Money Transfer. The bank also introduced M-Pesa service whereby our customers deposit funds into their Amana Bank accounts via M-Pesa accounts and transfer funds to their M-Pesa accounts thus bringing convenience banking everywhere, anytime of the day.
“This has enabled a lot of our customers to deposit money into their Amana Bank accounts even when they are out of the country. This is another way of bringing affordable banking services closer to the people,” the Managing Director said.
Amana Bank is only less than two years old and yet it is leading the way in providing alternative distribution channels. The bank will continue to strive to deliver on its promises to customers, staff and shareholders by focusing on best customer services and also adhering to the core values the bank was built upon.
The bank will continue to introduce new services that will improve customer penetration and satisfaction. Amana Bank has built a platform which will enable it to scale greater heights and to be among the best performers in the industry. Management has a positive outlook on the economic developments of Tanzania in particular and the region in general, said Dr Idris Rashid.
Source Tanzania Daily News
