The newly launched Centenary Bank Limited has unveiled plans to extend its services to rural areas and earned praise from the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM).

The bank announced its rebranding from MyBucks Banking Corporation at a ceremony in Lilongwe on Wednesday, months after Uganda’s Centenary Group and the Catholic Church Archdiocese of Lilongwe purchased the institution.

In his address, Centenary Group chairperson John Ddumba Ssentamu said their bank in Uganda has a large network of rural customers, a structure they want to create in the country.

The newly rebranded Centenary Bank being
unveiled in Lilongwe on Wednesday

He said: “What we are going to do is to make a product to make sure that we reach the rural people. We are talking about financial inclusion.”

To achieve this, Ssentamu said they will engage the group’s subsidiary information, communication and technology firm, CenteTech, to design systems that will enhance banking in the rural set-up.

“Centenary Bank in Uganda is the largest in Africa in as far as microfinance is concerned. We are here to bring that experience,” Ssentamu added.

Meanwhile, Reserve Bank of Malawi Deputy Governor William Matambo has praised Centenary Bank for focusing on microfinance and reaching out to rural communities.

He said: “We need more banks to reach out to the rural community. We are happy that Centenary Bank has already put their focus on microfinance.

“Related to that, they are bringing in a number of products which can be accessed by a lot of people in the rural areas…this is, in our view, the future of banking.”

In Uganda, Centenary Bank has an asset value of more than $1.3 billion (about K1.4 trillion) with a majority of customers from savings and credit cooperatives, village saving and lending associations, according to that country’s publication The Monitor.

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