Driving growth in the corporate sector

CRDB Bank Group considers economic growth as a collective responsibility of both the private and public sectors. Our business endeavours to support the country’s economic transformation, through the provision of efficient financial services needed to accelerate growth. During the 2020 financial year, the Group focused on delivering a superior experience for corporate customers through value chain optimization and extending support towards the government industrialization drive as well as supporting and infrastructure projects.

To achieve versatility and align the business fit for growth, the Group focused on improving lending turnaround time, business realignment, developing structured and solution-oriented products to support stakeholders of government projects, particularly contractors and sub-contractors. Leveraging its enhanced trade and transactional banking capability, we also expanded our scope into financing Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) through structured trade products and cash management.

To demonstrate our commitment to support flagship infrastructure projects, we increased participation through direct and indirect financing to projects such as Nyerere Hydroelectric Power, Standard Gauge Railway (Lot-1 and Lot-2) and Busisi Bridge. Additionally, we conducted targeted stakeholder engagements to create awareness on the existing and new credit products/solutions with customized features including Purchase Order Financing (POF), Invoice Discounting (ID), Asset Finance and Guarantees (Bid Bond, Advance and Performance Guarantees). The solutions targeted the public sector value chain with a view of addressing capital challenges, especially for SMEs to accelerate and sustain growth.

Customer experience

Our focus on customer experience resulted in a positive and improved performance during the year. Specifically, we improved our turnaround time in key customer processes such as loan processing, issuance of structured trade facilities, and customized our cash management solutions (e-CIT).

In line with our service enhancement priorities, we also took an active role in driving engagements with government and private sector stakeholders through forums which provided a unique opportunity for first-hand customer feedback. We continue to build a customer-centric culture within the organization and remain committed to delivering sustained transformation.

Digital transformation

In line with the Group’s digital transformation strategy, we continued to invest in enhancing our digital banking solutions by cross-selling our digital cash management solutions such as internet banking, Xponent and Omni Channel and others that are available to create more convenience for our customers. We focused on onboarding customers to the platforms as well as performing integration of the bank’s systems with other customer systems. We also commenced integration with the Government’s Mfumo wa Ulipaji Serikalini (MUSE) system to provide convenience to our customers especially government institutions.

Outlook for 2021 and Beyond

Despite the widespread challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Group made tremendous gains, registering a much-improved performance for the year 2020 with set targets being met across all indicators. We remain committed to providing a consistent and superior experience to our customers and building a sustainable business in line with the group’s growth strategy.

Going into 2021, we will embed the business in all our client’s operations and supply chains to maximize the relevance of our network footprint, agencies and product suite. We have a strategy to diversify and expand our client base, particularly in the sectors we have a lower market share.

We will also expand value propositions through structured products to match customer’s need while offering competitive prices. Specifically, we will focus on expanding our trade and transactional services to grow non-funded incomes through differentiated structured products and solutions that differentiate the Group from other players in financial services. We will also continue to control expenses in support of a lower cost to income ratio.

Our commitment is to build a robust business while maintaining a sound risk and control environment in our operations and with the support of our great people to fulfil our purpose and create value for our shareholders.