Tanzania’s CRDB Bank Secures $75mln Deal With Dutch Development Bank

Tanzania’s CRDB Bank has secured a 75 million US dollar, 10-year financing facility from Dutch development bank FMO to strengthen its capital base and increase lending to small businesses, as the lender pursues expansion across East and Central Africa.

The facility, signed on October 15 at an investor forum in Bangkok, will bolster CRDB’s Tier II capital and support financing for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Tanzania. It is backed in part by the European Commission’s MSME Platform Guarantee, according to the bank.

The agreement was one of several announcements at the Africa Investor Forum, which CRDB hosted with Invest Africa on the sidelines of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund Annual Meetings. The event brought together the bank’s leadership and subsidiary teams from Tanzania, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the United Arab Emirates with development financiers and private investors.

CRDB also marked the extension of a 10 million US dollar facility from Shelter Afrique Development Bank to its DRC subsidiary, intended to finance affordable housing and businesses across the construction value chain.

The housing facility builds on an agreement signed by the two institutions during the 2025 World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings in Washington. Their cooperation also includes advisory support for CRDB Bank DRC’s housing finance team.

The Tanzanian lender renewed a memorandum of understanding with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), expanding cooperation in trade finance, structured lending, digital payments, capital markets advisory and insurance. The agreement also provides for links between the CRDB Bank Foundation’s lending to women- and youth-led businesses and Afreximbank’s Export SME Programme.

CRDB launched a Sustainable Development Impact Disclosure Framework at the forum, setting out targets for financial inclusion, local economic development, job creation and digital financial innovation. The bank said it would use defined metrics to monitor the expected and realised effects of its lending and operations.

The framework draws on voluntary guidance published in October 2024 by the Impact Disclosure Taskforce, co-chaired by JPMorgan and Natixis. CRDB said it was the first Tanzanian issuer to adopt the guidance.

FMO chief executive Michael Jongeneel said the financing would help expand access to credit for businesses and entrepreneurs, supporting economic growth and employment.

Tanzania’s finance minister, Khamis Mussa Omar, said the government wanted international partnerships to translate into investment, trade, technology and skills, with financing directed towards bankable projects.

Emmanuel Tutuba, governor of the Bank of Tanzania, said the banking sector’s capital and liquidity positions provided a foundation for financing productive investment, adding that the non-performing loan ratio remained within the regulatory threshold.

The forum was part of a programme of investor engagement from October 13 to 16, including bilateral meetings and private roundtables focused on Tanzania, Burundi and the DRC. CRDB subsidiary executives presented potential projects to investors during the programme.

Source: FSX Business News