First Capital Bank Malawi Plc, formerly known as First Merchant Bank Plc, is a

commercial bank A commercial bank is a financial institution which accepts deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make profit. It can also refer to a bank, or a division of a large bank, which deals with co ...

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeas ...

. It is licensed by the

Reserve Bank of Malawi The Reserve Bank of Malawi is the central bank of Malawi established in the year 1964 located in Lilongwe. The current governor is Wilson Banda. The Bank is active in promoting financial inclusion policy and is a leading member of thAlliance for ...

, 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 ...

and national banking regulator. It is a subsidiary of FMB Capital Holdings.

Location

First Capital Bank Malawi maintains its headquarters, and main branch in Livingstone Towers, along Glyn Jones Road, in the city of

Blantyre Blantyre () is Malawi's centre of finance and commerce, and its second largest city, with an enumerated 800,264 inhabitants . It is sometimes referred to as the commercial and industrial capital of Malawi as opposed to the political capital, L ...

, the financial capital of Malawi. The geographical coordinates of the bank's headquarters are: 15°47'08.0"S, 35°00'25.0"E (Latitude:-15.785556; Longitude:35.006944).

Overview

The First Capital Bank of Malawi is a medium-sized financial services provider in Malawi. It offers retail banking services to individuals and corporate clients. As of December 2018, the bank's total asset base was valued at MWK:439.341 billion (US$610 million), with shareholders' equity of MWK:47.43 billion (US$66 million).

History

First Capital Bank was founded as First Merchant Bank in 1995 by Hitesh Anadkat and his family, who partnered with Prime Bank of

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

. It became Malawi's first private bank and was granted the third ever banking licence in Malawi. With focus on Malawi's corporate market, and with a large emphasis on service and customer relationships, First Capital had a successful start and began to show profits after only two years of trading. In the year 2000, First Capital wholly acquired the ''Leasing and Finance Company Malawi Limited'', which has since been dissolved and merged into First Capital Bank Malawi. In 2008, First Capital led a consortium that was granted a banking licence in Botswana, where a subsidiary of FMBCapital Holdings Plc,

First Capital Bank Botswana Limited First Capital Bank Botswana Limited, formerly known as Capital Bank, is a commercial bank in Botswana, licensed by the Bank of Botswana, the central bank and national banking regulator. It is a subsidiary of FMBCapital Holdings Plc, a Mauritius ...

, trades. The bank expanded its regional footprint in 2013, with the acquisition of the ICB Banking Group's businesses in Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique. The bank listed on Malawi's stock exchange in 2009, when almost 10% of its net shares were offered in the IPO. In 2017, First Capital announced that it was in the advanced stages of talks with Barclays to acquire a controlling stake in Barclays' Zimbabwe operation. Also in 2017, it was announced that First Capital had wholly bought out Opportunity Bank of Malawi. In December 2017, First Capital Bank Malawi de-listed its shares from the Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE). The value of First Capital stock shares were acquired by the newly-created holding company, First Merchant Bank Capital Holdings Plc (FMBCH), whose shares are now listed in the MSE. As of September 2017, First Capital Bank Malawi, was the third-largest bank in the country by assets and it enjoyed an estimated 16.8 percent market share.

FMBCapital Holdings Plc

FMBCapital Holdings Plc is the Mauritian-based holding company that owns First Capital Bank Malawi, as well as its affiliated companies. The group owns either wholly or in part, seven subsidiary companies. The Group is a large financial services conglomerate, serving communities in

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalaha ...

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

and

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

. Member companies of the FMBCapital Holdings Group include the following: * First Capital Bank Malawi Limited: 100% ownership, established June 1995. *

: 40% ownership, established July 2008. * First Capital Bank Mozambique: 70% ownership, acquired June 2013. * First Capital Bank Zambia Limited: 49% ownership, acquired June 2013. * First Capital Bank Zimbabwe Limited: 62% ownership, acquired October 2017.

Branches

, the bank maintained branches at the following locations: # Blantyre Branch: First House, Glyn Jones Road,

# Capital City Branch: Chief M’mbelwa House, Robert Mugabe Crescent, City Centre, Lilongwe # Limbe Branch: FMB Building, Churchill Road, Limbe # Lilongwe Branch: Old Kandodo Building, Kamuzu Procession Road, Lilongwe # First Corporate Service Branch: Livingstone Towers, Glyn Jones Road, Blantyre # Mzuzu Branch: Orton Chirwa Avenue,

Mzuzu Mzuzu is the capital of Malawi's Northern Region and is the third largest city by population in Malawi. The city has 221,272 residents and 20,000 commuters ( Mzuzu University students) with about 1.7 million people in its metropolitan area. It ...

# Zomba Branch: Kamuzu Highway & Main Road, Zomba In addition to the seven brick-and-mortar branches, the bank maintains another 22 agency banking locations, where the financial institution's services can be accessed.

References

External links

Website of Reserve Bank of Malawi

Website of First Capital Bank Malawi Limited
{{coord, 15, 47, 08, S, 35, 00, 25, E, display=title Banks of Malawi Banks established in 1995 1995 establishments in Malawi Blantyre FMBCapital Holdings Plc Companies listed on Malawi Stock Exchange