Barclays Bank Tanzania has Announced winner of the 2012 Bank of the year Award in Tanzaania

Barclays Bank Tanzania has announced the recent winner of the 2012 Bank of the year Award in Tanzaani, at the annual bank of the year awards administered by the Banker Magazine, which is affiliated with the Financial Times.

Barclays Bank Tanzania managing director, Kihara Maina, said recently at a press conference in Dar es Salaam:  “Our goal is to become the Go-to-bank by 2015. This great recognition comes through the dedication of all our staff to constantly elevate our service to our customers and thereby make their lives much easier. ”

Barclays Bank Tanzania's Managing Director, Kihara Maina

Maina added, “Tanzania has a total of 50 banks, and being picked as the best bank in the country is such a joy to the Barclays family, our customers and stakeholders. It recognizes the significant investments we have made in our business to provide excellent services to our customers. Our promise to Tanzania is to invest even further so we can deliver truly world class banking services.”

According to "The Banker Magazine", Barclays won this year's award for its innovative use of information technology by its investment in workflow and imaging systems, its introduction of free ATM services, its innovative internet banking offering, development of SME business and a turnaround in profitability between 2010 and 2011.

Barclays is a major global financial services provider engaged in personal banking, credit cards, corporate and investment banking, and wealth and investment management.

With over 300 years of history and expertise in banking, Barclays operates in over 50 countries and employs approximately 140,000 people. Barclays moves, lends, invests and protects money for customers and clients worldwide.

According to Maina, the businesses in view for the proposed combination employ more than 8,000 people and have a network of more than 400 branches and 750 ATMs, serving approximately 2.2 million customers.

As at December 2011, the Barclays Africa businesses in consideration for the proposed combination had total assets of approximately GBP6 billion.

Barclays Bank Tanzania Limited first opened its doors in Tanzania in 1925 and continued to operate in the country until 1967, when its Tanzanian operations were nationalized to become the National Bank of Commerce.

With the liberalization of the economy in 1990s, Barclays Bank Plc made a decision to re-enter the Tanzania market and re-opened its doors in the year 2000. Barclays Bank Tanzania now has 22 branches, 41 ATMs strategically located countrywide, over 400 employees and over 110,000 customers.