NMB expands productive-sector lending as Zambia acquisition lifts growth

Nelson Gahadza, Senior Business Reporter

NMB Holdings is stepping up lending to productive sectors of the economy, particularly mining, while pursuing new lines of credit and regional expansion as the financial services group seeks to consolidate growth and broaden its contribution to economic development.

Presenting the group’s half-year financial results for the period ended June 30, 2026, NMB chief executive Mr Gerald Gore said the bank had secured more than US$200 million in external lines of credit from international and regional financial institutions, with US$50 million drawn down during the first half and a further US$70 million expected before year-end.

“We are probably one of the leading banks with a diverse funding list as far as lines of credit are concerned.

“We have raised over US$200 million in external lines and this is riding on our solid business case. When they come to do their due diligence, they like what they are seeing in the business, but they are also quite happy with the governance structures that the bank has put in place,” he said.

The funding is expected to strengthen NMB’s capacity to finance businesses and productive sectors, particularly as the bank increases its exposure to mining, which has emerged as a major focus area.

Mr Gore said mining now accounted for 21 percent of NMB’s total loan book, reflecting the bank’s deliberate strategy to increase funding to a sector that remains the country’s largest source of foreign currency earnings.

The bank has also significantly increased its participation in the gold value chain, advancing more than US$60 million to the sector and attracting cumulative deposits of more than US$250 million from gold-related businesses.

“We have been quite deliberate about growing our participation in this sector. Mining now accounts for 21 percent of our total loan volume,” Mr Gore said.

The bank also participated in the US$110 million syndicated facility for Mutapa Investment Fund’s gold resources initiative, contributing US$15 million to the transaction.

“For me, the transaction underscored the strength of collaboration and mobilising capital for strategic national projects,” Mr Gore said.

“It shows that collectively, as banks, we can facilitate funding and use global resources to fund national projects.”

During the six months under review, group balance sheet grew from US$340 million in December 2025, to US$477 million in June 2026, while shareholder funds increased 13 percent from US$84 million to US$95,2 million.

Core income increased 48 percent to US$41 million from US$27,7 million, while profit after tax rose sharply to US$12,7 million from US$1 million recorded in the prior comparable period.

Mr Gore attributed the improvement to increased lending activity, stronger business income and the contribution from the group’s acquisition in Zambia.

The group has also declared an interim dividend of US$2,8 million. NMB did not declare an interim dividend in June 2025.

“Our market value moved from US$61,4 million in June 2025 to US$91,3 million in June 2026,” Mr Gore said. “So you can slowly see a reflection of the true value of the business.”

Mr Gore said a key development during the period was the acquisition of EFC Zambia, a 32-year-old financial institution focused exclusively on micro, small and medium enterprises.

Mr Gore said about 95 percent of EFC Zambia’s loan book was made up of small-business lending, making the acquisition strategically important as NMB seeks to diversify geographically and deepen its support for MSMEs.

“We like businesses that are manual, that are not highly digitised. This is the only time where ‘not digital’ is good as far as we are concerned, because we have the capability as far as digital is concerned,” he said.

The group’s strategy is to identify businesses with potential, acquire them, digitise their operations and scale them.

“We identify, we acquire, we digitise and we scale,” Mr Gore said.

Since taking control of EFC Zambia, NMB said it had completed all 22 deliverables under its first 100-day plan, with four completed ahead of schedule and 18 on schedule.

The bank has also integrated the subsidiary onto NMB’s technology platform and completed its digitisation in less than two months.

“We have completely digitised EFC Zambia, and we are going to be launching the channels to the market on September 9,” Mr Gore said.

Mr Gore said NMB was pursuing a deliberate strategy to become an “AI-engineered bank”, with AI agents already being deployed in areas including cybersecurity and account opening.

“We have started to invent AI in our business,” he said.

“Our end state is to have a bank where there is a human workforce and a digital workforce, and the two of them will work together.”

Meanwhile, NMB’s agency banking network has expanded to 409 outlets from just 16 active agents in 2022, enabling the bank to reach underserved rural and urban communities without relying on costly branch infrastructure.

Mr Gore said 91 percent of accounts were opened digitally, with low-KYC accounts opened in less than two minutes and full-KYC accounts in under five minutes.

The group’s microfinance business has also grown its loan book to US$19 million and now contributes 18,5 percent to bank revenues, while serving about 55 000 customers through 83 agencies.

NMB Properties, meanwhile, is pursuing a pipeline of commercial, residential and other developments, with Mr Gore saying the unit had sufficient projects to keep it occupied for the next five years.

Mr Gore said the first phase of the group’s strategy had focused on strengthening its foundations, while the current phase was centred on sector-specific leadership and expansion.

“From 2025, we moved into our core phase, an expansion where we wanted to achieve sector-specific leadership while continuing to strengthen our core business and subsidiaries,” he said.

“With EFC, we are now starting to see the early parts of phase two, which is regional expansion.”