by Our Correspondent

Akiba Commercial Bank Limited which is celebrating its 10^th anniversary this year will at the end of this month open a new branch in Moshi municipality, Kilimanjaro region.

This will be the fifth branch of the bank, which has about 70,000 customers countrywide.

"We are waiting for the supervisory department of the Bank of Tanzania to conclude its inspection to approve the expansion plan," said Mr. Godfrey Massawe, the bank’s marketing manager.

The launch of the Moshi branch would be preceded by the launch of the bank’s electronic banking services and automated teller machines (ATM), which are in the final stage of installation.

ACB is among small banks that have joined together to establish a single ATM service namely "Umoja Switch". Other banks are Azania, Tanzania Investment Bank, Dar es Salaam Commercial Bank, Twiga Bancorp and the Eurafrican Bank.

According to Mr. Massawe, the adoption of the new technologies will help put the bank’s services at the clients’ finger tips, while reducing inconveniences related to use of manual services.

"The adoption of the new technologies will help us to smoothen transactions and increase confidence in our clients on our products," he added.

It is estimated that all ACB branches service over 400 clients per day especially during month end.

"We regard the delays of services to our clients as indirect cost because it causes us to skip some of the bank’s operation’s schedules," he said.