Kingdom Goes To Malawi

FDH Financial Holdings, an associate company of Kingdom Financial Holdings Limited (KFHL) has opened a retail bank in Malawi as the firm continues its expansion programme.

The bank joins First Discount House Limited and FDH Stockbrokers Limited in the group.

FDH Bank Limited opened on Wednesday with one branch servicing corporates and small to medium enterprise financing while work is underway to open the bank to the public by October.

FDH Bank Limited is wholly owned by FDH Financial Holdings in which KFHL has a 40.16% shareholding. Other shareholders of the group are Thomson Frank Mpinganjira Trust (39.84%) and Old Mutual (20%).

Thomson Mpinganjira, the group’s CEO will head FDH Bank for a period not exceeding a year until the bank finds a suitable substantive head, Standardbusiness heard last week.

To beef up the technical team, KFHL seconded Clement Kahiya on a two and half-year temporary employment permit. Kahiya, a former group Audit Executive at KFHL, takes up the chief operating officer position.

Mpinganjira said the bank has applied for an Authorised Dealer Bank licence to the Reserve Bank of Malawi and awaiting response.

"This licence will be issued anytime as soon as RBM are satisfied that we have established Correspondent Banking Relationships. At this point we have been accepted by Barclays Commercial (UK), ABSA and First Rand," he said.

"As soon as we go live on SWIFT on 2 August 2008, banks will open accounts for us to start trading."

Connecting to SWIFT and Reuters are the preconditions for granting a licence and the bank has already met the conditions, Mpinganjira said.

FDH Bank will rub shoulders with nine other banks for the same clientele. Mpinganjira said the group had deferred plans to list on the Malawian Stock Exchange.

"Our aim was to raise funds to set up FDH Bank. Our priority now is to get FDH Bank properly established," he said.

"At an appropriate time in the future the shareholders will revisit this issue but there is no time frame."