Look, I’ve been covering CRDB Bank for a while now, and I’ll be honest—I wasn’t expecting these numbers. When the Q4 2025 results dropped on January 28th, my first reaction was to double-check the figures. A TZS 724.6 billion profit? That’s not just good. That’s a 31% jump from last year, and frankly, it’s the kind of performance that makes you wonder what they’re doing right that everyone else isn’t.

Click here to download CRDB Bank 2025 Q4 financial report

Let me walk you through what actually happened here, because there’s a lot more to this story than just big numbers on a balance sheet.

The Numbers That Made Me Do a Double-Take

Remember when we talked about CRDB hitting “half a trillion and counting” back in Q3? Well, they didn’t just coast to the finish line. The fourth quarter alone brought in TZS 204.1 billion in profit. That’s their strongest quarter all year, which tells you something important: they’re accelerating, not slowing down.

Here’s what really stands out when you dig into the full-year results:

Total assets hit TZS 22.22 trillion. To put that in perspective, that’s up 33% from where they were at the end of 2024. I can’t remember the last time I saw a major bank grow that fast without taking on crazy amounts of risk. Their loan book? Also up 33%, reaching TZS 13.7 trillion. Customer deposits climbed 35% to TZS 14.8 trillion.

You know what’s wild? These aren’t small-bank growth rates. This is a massive institution expanding at startup speeds.

Let’s Talk About What’s Actually Driving This

The Lending Machine

CRDB’s loan portfolio is where the real action is. They’re sitting on TZS 13.74 trillion in net loans (after setting aside money for potential losses). That’s about 62% of their entire balance sheet dedicated to loans.

What I find interesting is how they managed to grow loans by 33% while actually improving their asset quality. Their non-performing loan ratio dropped from 3.5% to 3.0%. Most banks struggle to do one or the other—grow aggressively OR maintain quality. CRDB is somehow doing both.

The secret? I think it’s a combination of things. Tanzania’s economy has been relatively stable, sure. But more importantly, they seem to have figured out credit underwriting in a way that lets them say “yes” to more customers without saying “yes” to more risk. That’s not easy.

The Profitability Picture Gets Complicated (But In a Good Way)

Net interest income—basically what they make from lending minus what they pay depositors—grew 25.6% to TZS 1.38 trillion. That’s solid. But here’s where it gets interesting.

Interest income jumped 28.9% (from TZS 1.52 trillion to TZS 1.96 trillion). Great, right? Well, yes, but interest expenses also shot up 37.6%. That’s the cost of all those deposits they’re gathering to fund the loan growth.

So their net interest margin ticked down slightly from 8.4% to 8.3%. Not a crisis, but it’s something to watch. Competition for deposits is clearly heating up in Tanzania, and CRDB is having to pay up to keep growing.

The Fee Income Story (This Is Where They’re Really Winning)

Here’s what excites me more than the lending numbers: fees and commissions hit TZS 549.1 billion, up 20.6% from last year. This is money from transactions, card fees, digital banking services, and all those little charges that add up.

Why does this matter? Because fee income is way more stable than interest income. Rates go up and down, loans default, margins compress—but if you’ve got millions of customers using your ATMs, mobile banking, and payment services every day, that’s recurring revenue that’s hard to disrupt.

They also made TZS 97.6 billion from foreign exchange operations. That’s a huge swing from some of the forex volatility we saw in previous quarters. Either they got better at FX trading, or the shilling had a much more stable year. Probably both.

The Risk Management Stuff (The Boring Part That Actually Matters)

I know, I know—nobody wants to read about provisions and coverage ratios. But stick with me for a second because this is important.

CRDB set aside TZS 148.7 billion for potential loan losses in 2025. That’s up 52.9% from TZS 97.3 billion in 2024. On the surface, that looks scary. But context matters.

Their loan book grew 33%. So yes, they’re provisioning more in absolute terms, but as a percentage of total loans, it’s only marginally higher (1.06% vs 0.94%). This tells me they’re being proactive, not reactive. They’re not scrambling to cover losses that already happened—they’re building cushions for losses they expect might happen.

The NPL coverage ratio is sitting at about 56%. Some people might say that’s too low—why not cover 100% of your bad loans? But I think CRDB’s management is showing confidence here. They believe they can recover a good chunk of those NPLs, so they’re not over-provisioning.

Time will tell if they’re right, but their track record suggests they know what they’re doing.

The Efficiency Question: Are They Getting Bloated?

One metric I always watch closely is the cost-to-income ratio. It’s simple: how much does it cost you to generate a shilling of revenue?

CRDB’s ratio improved from 45.9% to 42.6%. That’s actually impressive. They’re growing fast, hiring people (up from 4,251 to 4,528 employees), opening branches (now at 261), investing in technology (TZS 87.1 billion in intangible assets alone)—and yet they’re becoming MORE efficient, not less.

Their quarterly cost-to-income ratio in Q4 was even better at 41.7%. If they can get this under 40%, they’ll be operating at world-class efficiency levels.

Salaries and benefits grew 14%, but employee count only grew 6.5%. So average compensation went up modestly—probably keeping pace with inflation and rewarding performance. That seems reasonable.

What About CRDB BANK’s Returns? (The Investor Perspective)

If you’re a shareholder, here’s what you care about:

Earnings per share (EPS): TZS 277, up 31% from TZS 211 last year.

Return on equity (ROE): 29.3% for the full year. In Q4 specifically, it hit 30.2%.

Let me put that ROE in perspective. A good international bank might target 10-15% ROE. CRDB is doubling that. They’re taking shareholders’ money and turning it into profits at a rate that most banks can only dream about.

Return on assets (ROA): 5.3% for the year, 5.4% in Q4.

Again, for context, most banks globally are happy with 1-1.5% ROA. CRDB is at 5.3%. That means nearly every shilling of assets they hold is working incredibly hard to generate profit.

The CRDB Bank’s Cash Flow Reality Check

Here’s where things get a bit more nuanced. Operating cash flow was negative TZS 393.2 billion for the year. In 2024, it was positive TZS 1.13 trillion.

Should you panic? No. Here’s why.

The “negative” operating cash flow is almost entirely due to the massive loan growth. They deployed TZS 3.49 trillion into new loans. That’s cash going out the door to customers. But they also gathered TZS 3.86 trillion in new deposits—that’s cash coming in.

This is normal for a rapidly growing bank. You’re essentially funding future earnings today. The loans they made in 2025 will generate interest income for years to come.

They also pulled in TZS 936.8 billion from financing activities—mostly borrowings to support the growth. And they’re sitting on TZS 3.22 trillion in cash and equivalents. That’s plenty of liquidity.

Comparing CRDB Bank’s Q4 to Q3: The Momentum Question

What’s interesting is the sequential quarterly performance. From Q3 to Q4:

• Assets grew 8.6%
• Deposits grew 6.7%
• Loans grew 7.1%
• Profit jumped nearly 40%

That profit acceleration is what catches my eye. If they were running out of steam, you’d expect Q4 to be flatter or even down from Q3. Instead, it was their best quarter. That suggests whatever they’re doing is working better and better.

The 2025 vs 2024 Story

Let me show you the year-over-year comparison in a way that makes sense:

They basically added TZS 5.5 trillion in assets in one year. That’s like adding a medium-sized bank to their existing operations.

They added TZS 3.9 trillion in deposits. That’s proof that Tanzanian savers trust CRDB more than ever.

They grew profits by TZS 173.1 billion. That’s more than the entire annual profit of many Tanzanian banks.

The NPL ratio improved even as they made riskier bets by expanding so fast. That’s the holy grail.

The cost-to-income ratio improved by 3.3 percentage points while they were scaling aggressively. Most banks see efficiency worsen during rapid expansion.

What This [CRDB Bank’s performance] Means Going Forward

I’m not one for wild predictions, but here’s what I think happens next:

Growth will moderate. You can’t keep growing at 33% forever. I’d expect 2026 to come in somewhere between 15-25% asset growth. Still strong, but not breakneck.

Margins might face pressure. That 37.6% increase in funding costs is a warning sign. If competition for deposits keeps heating up, CRDB will have to either accept thinner margins or get creative with how they fund themselves.

Digital investments will pay off. That TZS 87.1 billion in intangible assets—which I’m assuming is mostly tech—should start showing up as efficiency gains. Expect that cost-to-income ratio to keep improving.

Regional expansion matters more. The difference between Group and standalone Bank figures is growing. Burundi and DR Congo operations are becoming meaningful contributors. Watch this space.

The Valuation Puzzle

Here’s something that genuinely confuses me: CRDB shares trade on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange at around TZS 2000-2200 per share as of February 3rd 2026.

With EPS of TZS 277, that’s a P/E ratio of about 7.2-7.94x.

For reference, international banks trade at P/E ratios of 10-15x. Even adjusting for emerging market risk and liquidity constraints, CRDB looks absurdly cheap.

Book value per share is roughly TZS 1,062. So the stock is trading at 0.56-0.66x book value. You’re buying a shilling of equity for 60 cents.

Either the market is pricing in some catastrophic risk I’m not seeing, or this is one of the most mispriced banking stocks in Africa. My money’s on the latter.

The dividend yield is probably around 9-11% based on the TZS 169.8 billion they paid out. Show me another way to get double-digit yields from a profitable, growing bank.

The Challenges Nobody Wants to Talk About on Tanzania’s banking Industry

Look, it’s not all sunshine and roses. Here are the risks:

Tanzania concentration: If the Tanzanian economy hits a rough patch, CRDB is going to feel it. They’re not diversified enough yet to weather a local storm.

Funding cost spiral: If they can’t control deposit costs, margins will compress. We’re already seeing early signs of this.

The provising bet: They’re assuming they can recover a good chunk of NPLs. If they’re wrong, they’ll need to take bigger charges later.

Competition: Digital banks, fintech companies, and other traditional banks aren’t standing still. CRDB needs to keep innovating.

Regulatory risk: Tanzania’s regulatory environment can change quickly. Capital requirements, lending restrictions, fee caps—any of these could hurt profitability.

My Take (For What It’s Worth)

CRDB Bank just had a phenomenal year. The numbers don’t lie: 33% asset growth, 31% profit growth, improving asset quality, better efficiency, and returns that make most banks look lazy.

But here’s what really impresses me: they’re doing all this while maintaining discipline. They’re not chasing yield into crazy loans. They’re not overleveraging. They’re not skimping on provisions. They’re just executing really, really well.

Is 2026 going to be as good? Probably not—it’s hard to top 33% growth. But I’d be shocked if they don’t deliver another solid year of 20%+ profit growth.

For investors on the DSE, the question isn’t “Is CRDB a good bank?” Obviously it is. The question is “Why isn’t everyone buying this?” And honestly, I don’t have a great answer. Liquidity on the DSE is limited, foreign investors face currency risk, and maybe the market just doesn’t fully appreciate what they’ve built.

But if you’re a long-term investor who believes in Tanzania’s growth story and you’re looking at CRDB trading at 2.5x earnings with a 9% dividend yield… I mean, come on. What more do you need?

The proof is in the numbers. And the numbers say CRDB Bank had its best year ever—and they’re just getting started.

Some Context on These Numbers

All figures come from CRDB’s official Q4 2025 financial statements published January 28, 2026. I’m comparing Group figures (which include subsidiaries in Burundi and DR Congo) unless otherwise stated.

TZS = Tanzanian Shillings. For international readers, rough conversion is about TZS 2,500 to USD 1, though rates fluctuate.

I’m not a financial advisor. This is analysis and commentary, not investment advice. Do your own research, talk to professionals, and never invest money you can’t afford to lose.

But seriously, these CRDB numbers are something else.

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Appendix: The Detailed CRDB Bank PLC Data Tables (For the Nerds)

Since some of you actually want to see the raw numbers laid out cleanly, here you go:

CRDB Bank PLC Balance Sheet Highlights (Group, in Million TZS)

*Estimated from annual comparatives

CRDB Bank PLC Income Statement Highlights (Group, in Million TZS)

Key CRDB Bank’s Performance Ratios

Now you’ve got everything you need to form your own opinion about CRDB Bank’s performance.

The story the data tells is pretty clear: this is a bank firing on all cylinders.