ZANACO – Big, Strong, Reliable

From its inception in 1969, Zanaco (Zambia National Commercial Bank Plc) has met significant milestones in the bank’s ownership, performance and products.

GRZ privatized the bank partially to Rabobank of the Netherlands in 2007.

Citizen Owned

It is the only bank which is “Citizen owned”, according to the Citizens Economic Empowerment act definition. A company is “Citizen owned” if more than 51 percent of shares are in the hands of Zambians.

Who are the shareholders for the bank? The following:

46 percent is owned by Rabobank
25 percent is owned by GRZ
29 percent is owned by the Zambian public.

Big, Strong, Reliable

At the Zanaco’s 40th anniversary, in October 2009, managing director for the bank, Mark Wiessing said the bank’s capital had more than doubled since its privatization in 2007.

Zambia National Commercial Bank - Head Office

For example, the bank’s financial position in 2006 just before privatization was K 101 billion. As at June 2009, according to the official financial results submitted to Bank of Zambia (BoZ), Zanaco’s regulatory capital was K 263 billion.

So the capital position had improved from being the lowest of the five banks to the highest. As at June 2009, the regulatory capital for the five banks in Zambia was as follows:

Zambia National Commercial Bank - K 263 billion
Barclays Bank - K 260 billion
Standard Chartered Bank - K 185 billion
Stanbic Bank - K 183 billion
Finance Bank - K 98 billion

Innovative products

The bank was the first to pioneer ATM’s in Zambia, as far back as the year 2000! In 2008, it was the first to offer cellphone airtime top-up sales on ATM’s. And again it was the first in Zambia to offer mobile banking, Xapit Instant Banking - Banking from the convenience of your cellphone.

Widest branch and ATM network

According to the vision at the time of creation in 1969, the bank was to be the leading retail bank in the country. In that year, the government realized that the only way the country would grow sustainably was by providing financial services to the broad Zambian public.

And this has been so. This is the bank close to you. For example ...

Zambia National Commercial bank has 180 branches countrywide. It has over 100 ATM’s and Point of Sale terminals nationwide.

And what's more! These branches are spread across 74 out of the 84 Districts and all the 10 provinces in Zambia.

Lusaka Stock of Exchange

The bank was listed at the Lusaka stock of exchange (LuSE) in 2008. As at October 2009 the share price was above the issue price at the Initial Public Offering (IPO).