IN as far as privatisations go, the Zambia National Commercial Bank Plc (Zanaco) is one of the most successful and largest privatisations concluded by the Government.

The bank has maintained the original motivation to empower Zambians through facilitating access to financial services.

While some firms which were privatised have closed down, Zanaco is riding a robust success wave of profitability with capital doubling since privatisation.

The profitability of Zanaco has improved since privatisation in 2007 when Rabobank Group of the Netherlands acquired 49 per cent shares in the bank.

According to managing director, Mark Wiessing, Zanaco had been growing at around 30 per cent since privatisation.

He said the bank had the highest capital of all banks in Zambia by June this year.

"According to the Bank of Zambia, we were the most profitable bank in Zambia during the first six months of 2009.

"This is evident of the success of our business model and the confidence we have among our customers," Mr Wiessing said.

He said the bank was liquid with a lot of deposits and had continued to grow most of its businesses.

"We are on track with the promises we made at the time of privatisation. At 40 years, we are still doing fine and we are ready for the next years to come.

"We have continued to be a bank for all Zambians and maintained the original mission of the Government when they created the bank," he said.

Mr Wiessing commended the Government for its vision not just to create Zanaco 40 years ago but also for having had the courage to privatise the bank later.

In November 2008, Zanaco listed on Lusaka Stock Exchange (LuSE) in yet another important milestone.

Through listing on LuSE, Zanaco is now a citizen owned bank as more then 51 per cent of its shares are owned by Zambians.

The bank's shareholding structure has so far been revised in an effort to empower more Zambians.

According to the revised shareholding structure, Rabobank now has 46 per cent shares while Government has 25 per cent stake.

The public which include pension funds, private individuals, Zanaco employees share ownership programme and Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) have 29 per cent stake in the bank.

"Most Zambians now have a stake in future successes of Zanaco and the bank has improved the access to financial products in line with the original motivation of Government when the bank was set up," Mr Wiessing said.

Rabobank Group which was set up as a co-operatives bank is currently in 40 countries and has total assets amounting to US$ 850 billion.

The Group's history dates back more than 100 years ago, it boasts of AAA-rated credit worthiness, professional excellence, global financial market experience and an extensive range of financial product and service offerings.

Some international publications have previously rated Rabobank to be among the five safest banks worldwide.

During the 100 years of existence, Rabobank had been able to grow and become the largest in Netherlands.

The group was originally set up to address banking and financial needs of the unbanked population especially in agriculture.

"Agriculture is close to our hearts. We decided to make investments in emerging markets in countries which are politically and economically stable.

Rabobank invests in countries where there are opportunities for agriculture development and can partner with a bank which is active in rural banking as well as urban areas," Mr Wiessing said.

He said Rabobank chose to invest in Zanaco because the bank had the potential to be a significant dominant player in the local market.

"Our original mission as Rabobank has continued in the mission of Zanaco to be people's bank present in urban and rural areas with a customer base which includes a whole range of key players such as Government, large corporates, Small and Medium Enterprises, civil servants, consumers and agriculture.

"Rabobank brings three things on the table and these include capital, management and technical assistance," Mr Wiessing said.

He said the three aspects were key consideration when the Government selected Rabobank among several other bidders who were ready to get a stake in Zanaco three years ago when the bank was privatised.

Zanaco is currently offering a wide range of products targeted at various categories of clients.

It also has low cost products such as Xapit and Seba account and the products are so far competing well on the market.

The bank has a scheme in place called Lima with the ZNFU to finance about 5,000 farmers and improve access to inputs.

The bank has also significantly expanded its branch network countrywide and has grown its Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) from 35 two years ago to about 150 currently.

Mr Wiessing said Zanaco customers could now use VISA electron in many supermarkets and hotels to make payments.

"We are present national-wide hence our supporting to the domestic economy is well-meaning.

When other banks were not active in retail banking, Zanaco was already fulfilling its mission," he said.

Zanaco has 56 branches spread across the entire country in rural and urban areas and the vision of the bank is to open two or three branches every year.

"For instance, we now have a branch in Senanga which previously lacked banking services.

"We are changing people's lives such as instead of traveling for long distances to Mongu to pick up their salaries, Senanga residents now have full access to our banking services," Mr Wiessing said.

Mr Wiessing reiterated the fact that the priority of the bank was to reach as many people as possible, especially the unbanked mostly found in rural areas and had to form partnerships to achieve the target.

In this vein, Zanaco has partnered with Zampost which has a branch network of about 100 outlets countrywide.

"Under the partnership between the two institutions, Zanaco customers can withdraw or deposit money using point of sale terminals in Zampost outlets.

This basically means that in areas where Zanaco doesn't have presence but Zampost has, Zanaco will have an opportunity of reaching out to many people," he explained.

On future plans, Mr Wiessing said his bank would continue to improve customer service across network.

"With better customer service, we will get more customers. We continue to expand customer base at the time when other banks are stepping backward or slowing their retail bank activities," he said.

We have also continued to invest in technology which is key to offer continually improved services

Making highest possible profits is not our top priority. What is important is for us to make sufficient profit to sustain our profitability at sufficient rate while remaining affordable to customers," he said.

On the global financial crisis, Mr Wiessing said the impact of the crisis was not directly impacting on Zambia as much as in Western economies.

"We are feeling indirect effects such as copper prices drop and depreciation of the Kwacha against other major foreign currencies.

We are cautiously optimistic about the future. Copper prices have already rebounded to a larger extent while the Kwacha has continued to gain," he said.

While the year 2009 showed significant slowdown in global economy, Mr Wiessing was optimistic about good recovery in 2010.

Meanwhile, Mr Wiessing noted that the cost of borrowing might go up not only because of high inflation but also since Government had remained a larger borrower through treasury bills and bond market.

"At the time of reduced liquidity, there has been upward pressure on interest rates. The rates should come down when Government will also reduce its relative reliance on treasury bills and bond market.

As Zanaco, we have the lowest base rates of around 22 per cent which is below rates for most large banks," he said.

And Mr Wiessing commended the Finance and National Planning Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane for presenting a cautiously realistic Budget for next year.

He said the 2010 Budget recognised where the country was coming from and where it intended to go.