TPB Public Relation Manager, Noves Moses

The Tanzania Postal Bank (TPB) yesterday reaffirmed its commitment to step up innovative initiatives intended to ease Tanzanians access banking services down to the rural areas.

“We have a dream of taking banking services down to the grassroots levels. We want to make life easier for all Tanzanians regardless of their geographical locations,” TPB Public Relation Manager Noves Moses told reporters at the bank's pavilion at the ongoing Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF).  Describing the bank as a peoples bank, she said, TPB had registered significant milestones in the last several years following services-delivery improvement programmes initiated by the management.

The official said besides a drastic shift from manual to computerised systems, the bank had introduced a number of services/products which have greatly improved operations of the state-run bank.

Citing mobile-banking as an example, Moses said, through the service, customers could easily access multiple-services through their mobile handsets.

“With mobile banking, customers may pay electricity, water, DSTV bills, and a number of other payments through their mobiles. Apart from that, they could also access their accounts’ information, update their accounts and do a lot of other things using their mobile phones…without taking trouble of going all the way to the bank,” she noted.

At the moment, according to Moses, bank customers are connected to Umoja switch ATM network, which allows them to withdraw money at any time from 120 ATMs countrywide. So far, about 22 banks are connected to Umoja switch ATM network.

“This makes it easier for our customers to access draw money at their convenience,” the public relations manager said.

As part of services-improvement initiatives, she said, TPB customers may now access banking services through Tanzania Posts Corporation offices, especially in areas/regions where the bank has no operational branch.

“Of course, we have some arrangements with the postal corporation which allow our customers to get services through their offices…otherwise, TPB is almost everywhere, with branches spread across the country’s 28 regions save for Singida,” Moses said.