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.

For example, the bank’s financial positioning 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 over 10 years ago. 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.

However, should you want to perform these same transactions, but on the internet, you can click here.

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 a large network with over 56 points of representation nationwide. It has over 100 ATM’s and Point of Sale terminals nationwide.

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).

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