Tanzania’s biggest bank, CRDB Bank Group, says its subsidiary in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is more about strategic positioning of the business in the mineral-rich country.

 

In the face of three consecutive years of losses, the regional lender says the “strategic significance” of its DRC unit goes beyond earnings.

The lender, which is listed on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE), entered the Congolese market in July 2023 and has not made any profit.

But the leadership is upbeat, saying the investment is important in diversifying the group’s long-term growth options, and building adjacency to mining, trade, logistics and associated small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) value chains.“In that context, 2025 should be read as a year of platform consolidation rather than maturity,” the group says in its annual report for 2025.

CRDB Congo’s losses have kept increasing from Tsh4.2 billion ($1.6 million) in 2023 to Tsh6.56 billion ($2.51 million) in 2024 and Tsh8.64 billion ($3.31 million) in 2025, on establishment and growth costs.“These figures indicate that the bank is gaining scale, even while profitability remains diluted by establishment and growth costs,” the group says.“CRDB Bank Congo SA remained in investment and build-out mode in 2025, but the year showed measurable progress in operating depth and formation. The subsidiary is still early in its life cycle, having entered only its third year of operation, and management’s task in 2025 was therefore two-fold: Build a credible banking platform and improve underlying economics.”The unit located in the large commercial city of Lubumbashi is majority owned (55 percent) by CRDB Group, while the remaining 45 percent shares are equally split (22.5 percent) between IFU and Norfund, Danish and Norwegian development finance institutions.

It marked the group’s second international expansion after the Burundian subsidiary launched in December 2012.

But CRDB Bank Burundi SA delivered the strongest subsidiary performance in the group in 2025 and remained the anchor of CRDB Bank’s regional banking footprint outside Tanzania.

The Burundian subsidiary made a net profit of Tsh43.7 billion ($16.74 million) in 2025, an 8.43 percent growth from Tsh40.3 billion ($15.44 million) in 2024

Early last year, fighting between Congolese security forces and militia groups led by M23 escalated quickly, culminating in M23’s capture of Goma, the regional hub of the eastern Congo on the Rwandan border.

After its launch in July 2023, CRDB Congo embarked on implementing a three-year business strategy (2023-2025) aimed at boosting market penetration, client engagement, and enhancing market share in line with the parent company’s strategic objectives.

Under the plan, the subsidiary focused on prioritising customer-centric approaches, remaining agile in response to evolving market dynamics, adapting to evolving customer preferences, enhancing digital capabilities, and optimising operational processes.

Kenya has two banks—KCB Bank Group and Equity Holdings —also operating in DRC.

Last year, KCB disclosed that it shut down all its 15 branches in eastern DRC to safeguard its staff and customers in a move that adversely impacted its revenues for the year ended December 31, 2025.

KCB’s operations in DRC reported a 16 percent decline in net profit to Ksh8.75 billion ($67.82 million) in 2025, from Ksh10.43 billion ($80.85 million) in 2024, while total income declined by 8.04 percent to Ksh28.66 billion ($222.17 million) from Ksh31.16 billion ($241.55 million) in the same period.

KCB has 106 branches in DRC, of which 15 are in the troubled east.

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