Bank Windhoek Limited (Bank Windhoek) is a

commercial bank A commercial bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make a profit. It can also refer to a bank or a division of a larger bank that deals with whol ...

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

, which is licensed by the

Bank of Namibia The Bank of Namibia (BoN) is the central bank of Namibia, whose establishment is enshrined in Article 128 of the Namibian Constitution. It is located in the capital city of Windhoek. The Bank of Namibia was established in 1990 by the ''Bank of Na ...

(BoN) to operate in the country. It provides

financial services Financial services are service (economics), economic services tied to finance provided by financial institutions. Financial services encompass a broad range of tertiary sector of the economy, service sector activities, especially as concerns finan ...

to its clients, which include personal, commercial and

Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by many national agencies and international organizat ...

(SME) banking and accounts. Bank_Windhoek_Head_Office_And_Windhoek_Branch

Bank Windhoek also offers

foreign exchange The foreign exchange market (forex, FX, or currency market) is a global decentralized or over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of currencies. This market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. By trading volume, it i ...

services throughout its branches and through a joint venture with

American Express American Express Company or Amex is an American bank holding company and multinational financial services corporation that specializes in payment card industry, payment cards. It is headquartered at 200 Vesey Street, also known as American Expr ...

, which has various outlets in Namibia. While being an autonomous Namibian company, the bank also provides international banking services through direct liaison with financial centres and institutions worldwide.

History

Bank Windhoek was founded in 1982 when a group of entrepreneurs, led by Koos Brandt, took over eight local branches of the

Volkskas Bank Volkskas Beperk () was a South African bank founded in 1934 as a Cooperative banking, cooperative loan bank, becoming a commercial bank in 1941. In 1991, by which time it had become South Africa's largest Afrikaner bank, Volkskas merged with Unit ...

. The bank opened its first branch in

Karasburg Karasburg (, old name , literally "carst spring") is a town in the ǁKaras Region of southern Namibia and the district capital of the Karasburg electoral constituency. It lies at the heart of the southern Namibian sheep farming industry. Karas ...

the same year it was founded. In 1990, the bank merged with Boland Bank and Trust Bank, and opened a branch in Walvis Bay. The bank opened its first Windhoek branch in 2001.

Branch network and localised ATMs

Bank Windhoek has the largest branch network and footprint across Namibia. As of June 2022, it has 51 branches, agencies and specialist branches countrywide. The bank also has a corporate and institutional banking division with offices in

Windhoek Windhoek (; ; ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek, which ...

Oshakati Oshakati is a town in northern Namibia. It is the regional capital of the Oshana Region and one of Namibia's largest cities both by population and as an economic center. It had a population of 58,656 people in 2023. Oshakati was founded i ...

and

Walvis Bay Walvis Bay (; ; ) is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies. It is the List of cities in Namibia, second largest city in Namibia and the largest coastal city in the country. The city covers an area of of land. The bay is a ...

. The bank also has 149 ATMs across Namibia and 253 Bank Windhoek Cash Express ATMs installed at various merchant locations countrywide in partnership with ATM Solutions Namibia. Bank Windhoek is also the only bank in Namibia to offer ATMs with local language options.

Ownership structure

Bank Windhoek, a fully owned subsidiary of the Capricorn Group, is the largest entity under the umbrella of Capricorn Investment Group Limited, branded as "Capricorn Group", a Namibian financial services group listed on the Namibian Stock Exchange, with interests in banking, insurance, asset management, investments and microfinance. Until May 2017, Capricorn Group was a subsidiary of Capricorn Investment Holdings Limited (CIH). At present, the two largest shareholders of Capricorn Group are Capricorn Investment Holdings (CIH), which holds a 41% shareholding in Capricorn Group and the Government Institutions Pension Fund, which holds 25.9%. Bank Windhoek contributes more than 95% of the total income of Capricorn Group and represents more than 89% of the group's net asset value. While BW Finance, a subsidiary of Bank Windhoek, is the vehicle through which the group does its micro lending business, which is a separate entity, as per regulation.

Directors

References

{{Authority control Banks of Namibia Banks established in 1982 1982 establishments in South West Africa

History

Branch network and localised ATMs

Ownership structure

Directors

See also

References