Banking in Namibia started in June 1906, when German colonists formed the

Deutsche Afrika Bank Deutsch or Deutsche may refer to: *''Deutsch'' or ''(das) Deutsche'': the German language, in Germany and other places *''Deutsche'': Germans, as a weak masculine, feminine or plural demonym * Deutsch (word), originally referring to the Germanic v ...

, which would become the First National Bank of Namibia. Following Namibian Independence in 1990, the

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Becau ...

sector came under the control of the new government which restructured the sector and created the

Bank of Namibia The Bank of Namibia (BoN) is the central bank of Namibia, whose establishment is enshrined in Article 128 of the Namibian Constitution. It is located in the capital city of Windhoek. The Bank of Namibia was established in 1990 by the ''Bank of Na ...

as the central bank. Today banking is dominated by South African commercial banks who operate subsidiaries in Namibia.

History

Banking in Namibia started in June 1906, when German colonists formed the

, which would become the First National Bank of Namibia. Following Namibia Independence in 1990s, the

sector came under the control of the new government. The 1990s saw the restructuring of the Namibian banking system, with new commercial banks created, and a new central bank,

set up. The architect of this restructuring, Dr WL Bernard, became the first governor of the new central bank.

Banks

Banking in Namibia is regulated by the Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority (NamFISA), an organisation of

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

. The

functions as the

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union, and oversees their commercial banking system. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central b ...

of Namibia, whose establishment is enshrined in Article 128 of the

Namibian Constitution The Constitution of Namibia is the supreme law of the Republic of Namibia. Adopted on 9 February 1990, a month prior to Namibia's independence from apartheid South Africa, it was written by an elected constituent assembly. Preamble "Whereas ...

. The bank is located in the capital,

Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 202 ...

. The Bank of Namibia was established in 1990 by the Bank of Namibia Act, 1990 (Act 8 of 1990). The Bank of Namibia is the only institution that is permitted to issue the Namibian dollar by the authority that has been given to it under an Act of the Namibian Parliament. The head of the Bank of Namibia is the Governor of the Bank of Namibia. Commercial banks with a banking license : # Banco Privado Atlántico Namibia #

Bank BIC Namibia Limited Bank BIC Namibia Limited (Bank BIC Namibia) is a commercial bank in Namibia. It is licensed by the Bank of Namibia (BoN), to operate and trade in the country. The bank is a subsidiary of the Bank BIC Group, a financial services conglomerate bas ...

# Bank Windhoek Limited # First National Bank Namibia #

Letshego Bank Namibia Letshego Bank Namibia is a commercial bank in Namibia. It is licensed by the Bank of Namibia, the central bank and national banking regulator. History The institution was established in 2002 as ''Edu Loan Namibia''. In August 2008, Letshego Holdi ...

# Nedbank Namibia Limited #

Standard Bank Namibia Standard Bank Namibia Limited, commonly referred to as Standard Bank Namibia, is a commercial bank in Namibia. It is licensed, supervised and regulated by the Bank of Namibia, the central bank and national banking regulator. Since 19 November ...

Trustco Bank Namibia Trustco Bank Namibia limited, formerly the FIDES Bank Namibia, is a commercial bank in Namibia owned by . Its main commercial activity is to provide microfinancing services. History The bank was built after a pilot project called '. This proj ...

, formerly FIDES EBank, a bank with electronic presence but no branches, operated between 2015 and 2017. It is now part of FNB. Namibia has 400 registered microlenders which offer "payday lending" (1–5 months repayment period, maximum interest 30% once-off) and "term lending" (6–60 months repayment period, maximum interest double that of commercial banks). In 2022, over 230,000 households were indebted with microlenders to a total of 7.3 billion N$.

References

External links

Bank PHB Granted Provisional License

Bank PHB Provisional License Withdrawn
{{Economy of Namibia

Banks A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Becaus ...

History

Banks

See also

References

External links