PURSUING EFFICIENCY WHILE MAINTAINING OUTREACH: BANK PRIVATIZATION IN TANZANIA

Robert Cull and Connor P. Spreng ()
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Connor P. Spreng: The World Bank, Postal: 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20433

No 4804, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: Profitability improvements after the privatization of a large state-owned bank might come at the expense of reduced access to financial services for some groups, especially the rural poor. The privatization of Tanzania's National Bank of Commerce provides a unique episode for studying this issue. The bank was split into the "new" National Bank of Commerce, a commercial bank that assumed most of the original bank's assets and liabilities, and the National Microfinance Bank, which assumed most of the branch network and the mandate to foster access to financial services. The new National Bank of Commerce's profitability and portfolio quality improved although credit growth was slow, in line with privatization experiences in other developing countries. Finding a buyer for the National Microfinance Bank proved very difficult, although after years under contract management by private banking consultants, Rabobank of the Netherlands emerged as a purchaser. Profitability has since improved and lending has slowly grown, while the share of non-performing loans remains low.

Keywords: access to banking; access to banking services; access to financial services; access to services; Accounting; Agricultural Bank; asset allocation; asset portfolio; ATMs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 2008-12-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-ban, nep-dev and nep-mfd
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Journal Article: Pursuing efficiency while maintaining outreach: Bank privatization in Tanzania (2011)
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