Background

The African Lakes Corporation (ALC), a trading company, currently known as Mandala, started the first banking operations in Blantyre in August 1894.  Other companies, unhappy with ALC handling of banking services approached an independent bank in South Africa to operate in Blantyre.  This suggestion was fortunate, as a decision had already been made by Standard Bank to move further north across the Zambezi River.  So Standard Bank opened its first branch in Blantyre on 29th April 1901.  By 1906 deposits at Standard Bank reached GBP25,000.  In 1920 the bank had branches in Limbe, Zomba, and Lilongwe.

  National Bank of South Africa was another bank, which was established in Malawi in 1918, which took over the interests of African Lakes Corporation.  The National bank of South Africa was, however, taken over by Barclays Bank D.C.O. in 1929.   

The Birth of National Bank of Malawi

In 1971 the Standard Bank agreed with Barclays Bank and the Malawi Government to create the National Bank of Malawi through the amalgamation of the two Banks.  This took effect 1st July 1971 when Standard and Barclays together held 51.0% of the equity, Press (Holding) Limited held 29.0% and Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC) held 20%.

In 1977, the shareholding of both Standard and Barclays was reduced to 20% while Press (Holding) Limited rose to 47.4% and ADMARC to 32.6%.  Also by agreement Standard Chartered Bank and Barclays became the service companies of National Bank of Malawi.  On 31ST December 1982 Barclays Bank International Limited sold its interest to Standard Bank PLC which came to be known as Standard Chartered Bank Africa PLC with effect from 15th October 1990 and its shareholding rose to 20.0%.  In 1993 Press Corporation Limited, sold part of its shareholding to the South African Mutual Life Assurance Society (Old Mutual).   Apart from being a shareholder, Standard Chartered Bank Africa PLC continued to be the service company of National Bank of Malawi.  Under the service agreement Standard Chartered provided senior management personnel (i.e. Chief Executive, Deputy Chief Executive and Head, Credit Management, and any secondee deemed necessary), advisory, technical and other services.  However, the Service Agreement expired on 30th June 1996.  Furthermore, as part of its restructuring, and in order to be more focused, Standard Chartered Bank Africa PLC sold its 20.45% shareholding in the bank to the existing shareholders on 31st October 1996 on a pro-rata basis.  As a result of the demutualisation of Old Mutual in 1999 its shareholding in the Bank evolved to two local entities that were formed; Old Mutual (Malawi) Limited and Old Mutual Life Assurance Company (M) Limited.   National bank of Malawi has about 1150 employees.  The Bank has 13 branches, and runs a number of agencies within the country.  National Bank of Malawi is the leading bank in the country boasting the combined connection, experience and expertise of African Lakes Corporation, Mandala, Standard bank and Barclays Bank, UK. The Bank is fully computerized, having adopted a highly sophisticated computer technology named the Bankmaster/Branchpower System, sourced from Kindle of Dublin, Ireland.  

Public Company

National Bank of Malawi was listed on the Malawi Stock of Exchange on 21st August 2000 with a total of 450,000,000 ordinary shares.

Shareholding

The current shareholding structure of National bank, as at 30th November 2006 , is as follows:

Corporate Governance

National Bank has a highly skilled and exceptionally qualified team of Non Executive directors, that are of the highest calibre in the market and has accumulated vast experience over the years. The directors are mostly drawn from the main shareholders, to provide direction and control of the bank and to prevail over the strategic direction of the bank.

The Bank has several board committees looking after different strategic areas of the bank’s operations such as:

	Board Credit committee
	Board Audit committee
	Board Remuneration committee

Directors

The Composition of the board (Non Executive) as 30th November 2006 is as follows:

	Dr M A P Chikaonda	Chairman
	Mr Dixies Kambauwa	Director
	Mr Pius P Mulipa	Director
	Mr Andrew G Sesani	Director
	Mr E J Kambalame	Director
	Mr James A Regout	Director
	Mr Dye Mawindo	Director

The Bank has an equally exceptionally talented and perfectly qualified Executive Management team that is supported by an all high calibre senior management team heading various specialized functions of the bank. The Management, which is all highly academically and professionally qualified, vastly experienced and young and vibrant is led by the Executive team of:

	George Partridge	Chief Executive Officer
	Augustine Chithenga	General Manager
	Gilbert Chibesakunda	Company Secretary

As a leading and highly respected good corporate citizen in Malawi, National Bank of Malawi will actively participate in deserving charitable and social activities.

Objectives

	To demonstrate leadership as one of Malawi’s elite citizens.
	To occupy a prominent position in Corporate Social Responsibility activities so as to gain a lot of goodwill toward us within the market in which we operate
	To reduce the suffering, of the less fortunate people amongst us
	To contribute to the social and economic development
	To maximize the Bank’s visibility in the market.

Focus

To assist/promote development in the following sectors:

	Charity
	Community Projects
	Education
	Environment
	Health
	Natural disasters

POLICY

	To make donations up to the level of 1% of the after tax profit on an annual basis.
	To assist those less fortunate members of the communities within which we operate as a business.
	To seek positive publicity for all our donations. To show that we are proud of our charitable work and should actively seek to maximize the goodwill engendered by it.
	The level of donations to be determined by the Bank’s performance in the prior year and the performance projected for the future.
	As a general rule, Government sponsored projects are not to be recipients of our support. Preference being given to Non-Governmental organizations with a proven track record.
	Preference will be given to charities working to assist the local populations and in support national aspirations
	Exceptionally, the Bank may consider donations to Government if a major disaster occurs e.g. floods, earthquakes, major droughts causing food shortages, major road, air, sea and rail crashes etc.
	Management is to factor the donation amount into the annual budget for formal approval.
	In the event of a major disaster the Board may consider a special donation. On such occasions, the donation is to be presented by the Board Chairman or a nominated Board Member if the amount donated exceeds MK5 million.
	Donations are not to be made to political parties and their associated groups.
	Individual donations will be subject to the approval process as spelled out in the Schedule of Authorities from time to time.
	Beneficiaries to register with Malawi Revenue Authority so that donations are allowable for tax purposes.

BUSINESS JUSTIFICATION

Charity

Gain goodwill for National Bank of Malawi in the community, which comprises the bank’s stakeholders. Some charities and NGO’s could be obliged to open accounts with us for their day to day dealings.

Education

Building tomorrow’s customers. They will probably recall our charitable actions.

Health

Healthy people are productive hence they are likely to participate in the process of building a healthy nation. To this effect the bank’s policy on HIV/AIDS in the work place and the provision of free anti-retroviral drugs will be fully supported in order to improve the health of our staff and their spouses.

Environment

The effects of damaged and degraded environment is negatively affecting all business in general and our business as well through increased operating costs. Therefore, it is our belief that the Malawi population can be empowered if the environment is properly managed and protected.

Natural Disasters

We will seek to demonstrate empathy with our communities by indicating, in a practical way, that the bank will support them in time of need.

Correspondent Banks

The Bank also has a network of correspondent banking relationships across the world.  Click here to see a list of these banks

National Bank of Malawi also has links with banks in Austria, India, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, Swaziland, Botswana, Italy, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.  

More details: Contact us at natbank@natbankmw.com

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