Listed financial concern, NMB Bank Limited, says the building of a US$10m head office bears testimony that the bank is here to stay and coming up with more innovative ideas to grow the financial services firm.
NMB Bank CEO Gerald Gore told the delegates at the unveiling of the new head office that the lender wants to grow more partnerships with its clients; hence they established a home for them.
“Our partners who are our clients, we are actually building for you because we want to show you that we are here to stay. We are not fly-by-night, if you can trust us with your finances and dreams and when you come tomorrow you will find us here,” Gore said.
He said the bank has a mandate to continue sourcing more lines of credit for its exporting clients as the €12.5m European Investment Bank (EIB) it recently signed cannot meet the demands of its clients.
Speaking as the guest of honour, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe [RBZ] deputy governor Jesimen Chipika said buildings symbolise strength and permanence and that they are often built to outlive “us and be part of our history”.
“Here, NMB has embodied all of this and has shown that it is an institution that has set itself for the future. Having our own local institutions push and drive infrastructure development is not only good for the financial services sector, but for the country as a whole,” Chipika said.
The NMB Head Office building is a three storey modern building that was designed to foster a highly collaborative culture with an open plan office setup which aids in team collaboration and enhances openness within the team.
NMB board chairman Ben Chikwanha said the bank had dug the foundation of its head office so deep that the bank “will transcend many generations”.
“Buildings signal permanence and portray solidness of an institution. Our Head Office is more than a business premise, it is a show of our class and a show of the elegance of our brand,” Chikwanha said.
The head office was built with the environment in mind “mindful of the times we live in, we deliberately went for a building that is not only easy on the eyes but on the environment also”.
“We have gone green with this project; we are 100% off grid in terms of powering the building. We have out done ourselves on this one; we now feed power to the national grid. This is our statement of the committee to be environmentally friendly and play our role in creating sustainable solutions within the country,” Chikwanha said.
Yesterday’s event was also attended by the bank’s foreign shareholders (Arise, African Century and AfricInvest) and their network of banks in Africa which continue to deepen their service offering and help the bank to leverage on their strength.
NMB Bank Limited is a leading commercial bank and the principal subsidiary of NMBZ, a Zimbabwean-based investment holding company listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.