MBABANE (19 June 2025): The Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE) yesterday announced it had granted a one-year provisional license to Letshego Eswatini Bank (LEB) to operate a Digital Bank within the Kingdom of Eswatini.
CBE Governor Phil Mnisi said in a statement yesterday that the provisional licence follows an LEB application on 17 October 2024 which required that the Central Bank launched a comprehensive review process of the application in line with Eswatini laws and the banking regulatory framework. These included a rigorous assessment and evaluation during which CBE determined that LEB meets the minimum regulatory standards required and qualifies to be granted a provisional license.
Dr. Mnisi said CBE’s decision was informed by several key considerations. Among these, was satisfaction with the validity of the documents which satisfied CBE policy on licensing of banking and financial Institutions.
CBE was also assessed Letshego’s track record in the financial services industry and was satisfied that it had a consistent favourable financial performance over the last few years. “They were therefore deemed to possess sufficient experience and financial health to support the proposed operations of the bank,” Dr. Mnisi said in a statement.
The Central Bank also assessed the character and experience of Letshego’s governance structures and concluded that its board and senior management team are individuals with extensive expertise in banking operations, fintech and oversight, ensuring strategic guidance and accountability. “They were therefore rated adequate in terms of balance of skills, exemplified by a diversity of skills, experience and expertise in insurance, banking, legal, digital communications and marketing.”
Dr. Mnisi said the proposed bank also meets the adequacy of capital structure in that Letshego has strong capital adequacy ratios that are well above the statutory minimum as well as a compliant capital level as required by Section 20 of the FIA.
CBE is also satisfied with LEB’s convenience and needs of the community it intends to serve and demonstrated a thorough understanding of the local financial sector, its growth prospects, the regulatory environment, as well as the competition landscape. The unbanked and low‐income group of the population are generally the typical target market for the applicant, and their robust SWOT analysis is likely to position them as a competitive industry player.
The proposed bank has demonstrated earning prospects afforded by the area primarily to be served. The CBE’s assessment of the bank’s earnings prospects revealed “a realistic and cautiously optimistic outlook, backed by a business plan informed by reasonable assumptions.”
Finally, the CBE is convinced that the licence is in the public interest and that LEB will differentiate itself through reaching the previously unbanked, offering competitive rates for deposits/savings, and majoring on corporate social responsibility augurs well with the national agenda on financial inclusion.
The Central Bank, Dr. Mnisi said, will continue to work closely with LEB and other relevant stakeholders to ensure that all regulatory and legal requirements tied to the provisional license are met before a banking license is granted and the bank becomes operational.
If Letshego which opened its doors in the Kingdom of Eswatini in February 2006 as a financial services provider in the micro-finance sector is approved as a bank, it will become the first new bank to establish in the Kingdom in half a Century. The youngest bank, is FNB which took over the operations of the Meridian Bank, which had moved into the shoes of the Bank of Credit and Commerce (BCCI).
LEB is a subsidiary of Letshego Holdings Limited (LHL). In Eswatini the bank has steadily grown into a leading financial services provider with diverse products that serve low, middle income, and medium and Small enterprises (MSE). The financial institution has partnering with MTN Eswatini to offer Mobile Money Loans.
Meanwhile, Swaziland Building Society which has operated since 1965, has also launched a bid for a commercial bank, to be called SBE. In November 2024, SBS shareholders approved the conversion of the building society into a bank. The conversion approval process and bank application are currently going through national financial structures including the Ministry of Finance, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) and the Central Bank of Eswatini.
jm/today/19 June 2025
