CRDB Managing Director, Dr. Charles Kimei
CRDB
Bank is waiting eagerly for East African Monetary Union to springboard
their regional expansion drive, its Managing Director, Dr Charles Kimei,
has said.
Dr
Kimei said the monetary union will harmonise bank regulations and in
that way cut costs and time for banks in the bloc in opening branches in
the region. “We (CRDB) have a plan to cross more borders.
But of late we have been hesitating as there is a plan to create monetary union for EAC,” Dr Kimei said in a recent interview.
Dr
Kimei, who is also the chairperson of Tanzania Bankers’ Association,
said once the monetary union is created it will be easier to open a
branch anywhere in the EAC member states because they will harmonise
banking regulations in the region.
“This
will help us in doing business. If I want to cross to Kenya, for
example, I just open a branch like I open in Tanzania, because it will
be supervised by Central Bank of Kenya like what our central bank does,”
Dr Kimei said.
The
monetary union would also apply to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and even
South Sudan. CRDB currently has a subsidiary in Burundi with three
branches. In the run-up to achieving a common currency, the EAC nations
aim to harmonize monetary and fiscal policies and establish a common
central bank.
At
the moment Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda are presenting their
budgets simultaneously every June. In late 2013 the EAC countries signed
a joint protocol setting out the process and convergence criteria for
the monetary union.
The union envisaged in 2024 is the introduction of a common currency to replace the national currencies of member countries.
Out
of EAC, CRDB Bank eyes to expand to Lubumbashi in DR Congo to tap the
growing potential in the area. “There are a lot of businesses in Congo
and our approach is to follow our customers and we have them already in
Lubumbashi,” Dr Kimei said.
The
bank estimates that some 1,500 Tanzanians are doing various businesses
in Lubumbashi, including government institutions such as Tanzania Port
Authority.
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