Twiga Bancorp Closure

Just a few days after Uganda shut down Crane Bank, in Tanzania, the governor of the Bank of Tanzania announced a takeover of Twiga Bancorp, citing a deteriorated capital position that jeopardized its operations.

twiga-bancorpUnder the takeover, the board and management were suspended and a new statutory manager appointed and the bank was to stay closed for one week while new arrangements were made.

According to a 2012 Tanzania bank report by Serengeti Advisors, Twiga was a relatively small bank, ranked 28th out of 45 banks in the country. It was wholly owned by the Government of Tanzania and had 4 branches. It had $42 million in assets, $24 million of loans and deposits of $34 million. Its capital base was $3.4 million and it made a profit in 2011 of $189,000.

EDIT May 17, 2018: The Bank of Tanzania announced that it had approved a merger between Twiga and a new TPB Bank Plc which will take over all customers, employees, assets, liabilities, and protect the interests of depositors of Twiga while ensuring the stability of the banking sector. The move ends the statutory management of Twiga by the regulator – the Bank of Tanzania.