HARARE, Aug. 27 (NewsDay Live) — NMB Bank’s newly acquired Zambian microfinance subsidiary, EFC Zambia, contributed 13.3% to the group’s operating income in the first half of the year and accounted for about 10% of its balance sheet, underscoring the early impact of the acquisition.
NMB completed the acquisition of EFC Zambia in January. The microfinance institution, previously owned by development financial institutions from Europe and Canada, provides financing to small businesses, which account for 95% of its loan book.
Speaking during an analyst and media briefing, NMB chief executive Gerald Gore said the Zambian business had made a significant contribution since joining the group.
“In terms of their contribution for the first half, they contributed 13.3% to group operating income and about 10% to balance sheet,” Gore said.
He said NMB’s XPlug technology subsidiary had played a key role in identifying EFC Zambia as a potential acquisition target.
Gore said the bank’s acquisition strategy focused on identifying businesses with potential for digital transformation and growth.
“Because we have capability as far as digital is concerned, we want a business that is manual because we believe we can then come in and digitise and scale the business,” he said.
“Our model is we identify, we acquire, we digitise and we scale.”
NMB has already started implementing its digitisation strategy at EFC Zambia, with Gore saying the group had set 22 deliverables under a 100-day integration plan.
Four of the deliverables were completed ahead of schedule, while the remaining 18 were completed on time. The targets covered stakeholder engagement, business strategy alignment, distribution channels, ICT, cybersecurity, shared services, risk, compliance and reporting.
Gore said XPlug was deployed to Zambia to lead the digital transformation of the business, which was completed in less than two months.
“So we sent XPlug to Zambia and we’ve given them 100 days, but in less than two months, we’ve completely digitised the bank,” he said.
The bank plans to launch the new digital channels to the Zambian market on Sept. 9.
NMB is also accelerating its use of artificial intelligence as part of its strategy to become an AI-native bank.
Gore said the bank had begun deploying AI agents in its account-opening processes, including identity verification and facial recognition.
“We have taken a deliberate strategy to build NMB to become an AI-native bank. We have actually started to invent AI in our operations,” he said.
The bank’s market value rose from US$61.4 million in June 2025 to US$91.3 million in June 2026, while profit after tax surged from US$1 million to US$12.7 million.
Gore said the growth in profit was largely driven by increased interest income, stronger lending activity and contributions from the EFC Zambia acquisition.
“Profit after tax [increased] from US$1 million to US$12.7 million,” he said. “That increase is driven by interest income.”
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