MBABANE (10 December 2025): The Central Bank of Eswatini has approved a provisional licence for the Swaziland Building Society to become a commercial bank. The bank will be known as SBS Bank so it retains the its 63-year legacy and loyalty of its customers, SBS Managing Director Mbali Sibanyoni said (Tuesday 9 December 2025).
The new commercial bank will open its doors for trading on the first day of its new financial year on Wednesday 1 April 2026. SBS Bank will be a medium tier bank, becoming the 5th commercial bank, joining Eswatini Bank, Standard Bank, Nedbank and First National Bank.
The final step of the conversion from building society to full service commercial banking will be made tomorrow (Thursday 11 December 2025) when the SBS Board votes to approve the process for redemption of shares for those of its members who will not opt to take ordinary shares.
Permanent Shareholders of the Swaziland Building Society approved the conversion at a mass meeting in Manzini in November 2024, clearing the way for an application for approval of a banking licence by the Tripartite of the Ministry of Finance; the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) and the Central Bank Eswatini (CBE).
Also read: Overwhelming vote YES to Building Society bank
The provisional banking licence, issued in October 2025, is valid for two months ending 29 December 2025, enabled the Building Society to lodge its registration documents with the Registrar of Companies and become a public company. Simultaneously, they also had to share their business plan with the CBE to demonstrate how they would perform their banking business.
“I can confirm now confirm that we have been registered as a public company and received the Certificate of Incorporation,” declared Velaphi Dlamini, the new bank’s manager, legal affairs. “Henceforth, the Building Society will appear as a registered commercial Bank, and the FSRA will strike it off the list of building societies,” he said.
The next step is to convene a Board Meeting on Thursday (11th December 2025) to approve the redemption of shares giving permanent shareholders the option to sell their shares before the Building Society fully converts into a bank.
Many of the estimated 6000 SBS Permanent Shareholders opted to participate in the new bank’s equity and convert their shares into ordinary shares. Others however decided to rather sell their shares following their special general meeting in November. “There are other members who elected not to do anything. We have distributed the equitization forms so that even those who have not decided have a 90-day window to make their choice.
Day 90 will end on the 1st of April 2026, after which shareholders who would not have taken any decision will be deemed to have elected to redeem their shares. These will be converted into short term deposits so that by 2 April 2026 when the bank formally opens its doors as a commercial bank, it will have only one class of ordinary shareholders.
Stock Exchange
While the decision to list on the stock exchange is still in the future, as an interim measure the SBS Bank will open an over-the-counter platform enabling sellers and buyers to trade their shares.
Dlamini said the bank is in the process of developing underwriting agreements in consultation with CBE and the Eswatini Stock Exchange (ESE) to ensure a framework that is clear and fair.
The building society decided to become a commercial bank in 2012, and since then, has spent almost E20 million spread over the past 13 years to fund the internal restructuring processes required for its transition into a bank.
Over the years, the Building Society’s operations have converged with those of commercial banks for that it was in fact a bank but in name.
jm/today/10.12.2025
