National Bank of Malawi has a new Chief Executive effective November 1, 2006. In the comment regarding his vision for the bank, Mr. George Partridge clearly points out that he will continue from where his predecessor, Mr. Isaac Nsamala left by ensuring that the overall mission and vision of the bank are upheld. He notes that there are quite a number of challenges to surmount including stiff competition that has crept into the market. "Today, banking has become an attractive investment proposition. This being the case we have the big challenge of attracting and retaining good clientele."

The bank will therefore continue to build its own system and a culture that is oriented towards excellent customer service. "We will do this by further developing our delivery platforms, which includes the various infrastruc­tures and ambience. That is why you see Customs Road Branch appearing the way it is. Banking is a confidence issue. We believe that ambience makes a statement by itself." The bank will also continue improving on its technology. "We have already had Internet banking and we are going to continue with expansion of our ATM network." At the back office, the bank is upgrading its system on various fronts includ­ing utilising satellite technology and it is increasing the bandwidth of data transmission mechanisms, amongst various other activities. There are several add-on products such as bill payments with utility companies such as ESCOM and Water Boards, and airtime purchasing, which are floated on the bank's ATMs as an enhancement of efficient payment mechanism.
"Our interest on staff is as burning as ever before. We will continue to develop and increase the capacity of our human resource. This is so because we believe that all our grand plans will hardly come to fruition unless we move together with a motivated and well trained workforce."

When asked to comment on the existence of most banks in the cities with few of them going to the rural areas, Mr. George Partridge argues that much as they have a social responsibility to reach out to the rural areas, things have to be looked at holistically before making a decision to plant a branch somewhere. "We are a listed company on the Stock Exchange, so we are always mindful of our performance vis­a-vis the expectations of our shareholders. The issues of profit maximization, security risks, technology failures, inadequate telecommunication and electricity infrastructures cannot just be ignored in this equation. In addition, we are mindful of the fact that we are entrusted with public money and as such the regulator, which is the Reserve Bank of Malawi, will always set some minimum standards that have to be adhered to whenever a bank intends to have a branch at a particular place. It is difficult to meet some of those requirements in rural settings. So the bottom line is that expansion to the rural areas, though very desirable, is a function of how developed those areas are in relation to the requirements of the regulator."
George Partridge joined National Bank of Malawi in 1994 as Head of Treasury after working for Reserve Bank of Malawi for over 11 years. He then became Head of Finance and Treasury Department before becoming the bank's General Manager in 2002. A year later he assumed the posi­tion of Deputy Chief Executive and in July 2006 he became the Chief Executive Designate and was made substantive Chief Executive on 1st November 2006.