FINCA MICROFINANCE BANK formed its first Village Bank in Mwanza in 1998, bringing its model of group lending to Tanzania. In the years since, over a million customers have gained access to responsible financial products including credit, savings and money transfers.
In January 2013, FINCA Microfinance Bank began offering savings products to the public. This followed a historical event where FINCA became the first MFI to be granted a license by the Bank of Tanzania, allowing the institution to accept deposits from the public and to carry out banking services as a microfinance institution. The issuance of a license by the Central Bank was an important step toward financial inclusion in the country as it helped to bring tens of thousands of Tanzanians, mainly from rural areas, into the formal banking sector.
Today, the breadth and reach of our responsible financial services continues to grow and evolve to meet new needs and new opportunities. FINCA Microfinance Bank has gone beyond traditional microfinance by leveraging the power of new technology, such as mobile phones and agent banking, to make banking more affordable and accessible. 56% of FINCA’s customers now transact through one of the 140 agents and 23% transact via mobile financial services. FINCA Microfinance Bank is the only bank that offers an opportunity for customer to open a Savings Account within five minutes using special tablets through the Bank’s remarkable innovation known as Digital Field Automation (DFA).
As we look towards the future, FINCA Microfinance Bank will continue to improve our services. We are re-engineering and streamlining our credit and customer service processes to lower costs and to make it easier for clients to do business with us. We are fostering a culture of innovation, where all employees are encouraged to lead change.
FINCA believes that the future of expanding access to responsible financial services lies in both technological innovations and delivering an exceptional customer experience.