MyBucks buys 50% stake in New Finance Bank of Malawi: Pelekamoyo playsdown job cuts
MyBucks, a a FinTech company based in Luxembourg that delivers seamless financial services through technology and is listed in Frankfurt Stock Exchange has completed the acquisition of 50% of New Finance Bank Limited (NFB) in Malawi.
The deal was announced to the media at a news conference on Monday in Lilongwe.
The acquisition allows MyBucks to launch its virtual banking offering in one of Africa’s most vibrant markets.
NFB has six branches in Malawi, 11 ATMs and 96 employees. The bank had grown its assets to K12 billion, according to its officials,
Chairperson of NFB Francis Pelekamoyo played down fears of job losses following the deal.
“ We are not planning to retrenth people because that is not the aim of the partnership,” Pelekamoyo said.
He assured that employees “remain safe” and that they may need to hire more staff.
Tim Nuy, Deputy CEO, MyBucks said: “The combination of NFB’s traditional banking expertise with MyBucks’ proprietary technology will position NFB as a strong digital bank within Malawi.”
He said it is in line with his company’s long-term strategy to become a truly digital bank in all the markets where we operate.
“Through a deposit gathering strategy, we look forward to substantially reducing our cost of funding and enhance profitability for the Group,” he said.
Dr Rajan Mahtani, Chairman, Finsbury Investments Limited and 50% shareholder in NFB said: “We are excited about the efficiencies that MyBucks will bring to NFB through their modern technology. Combined with the ability of NFB to raise competitively priced funding, we believe that advantages will lie in providing simple financial solutions for all our clients in an easily accessible manner, at a lower cost than our competitors.”
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The acquisition of NFB by MyBucks is a wonderful and welcome development in the Malawian financial sector. It will mean more competition in the financial sector. It might also mean less costs for the customers of the financial sector. Frankly am intrigued by the trend towards digitalisation and mobile innovations of a financial nature in this country. There still alot to be done. But the trend is impressive.