Banking Regulatory Environment and Financial Inclusion Framework in Tanzania

The Tanzania banking sector has its evolution traced back to colonial era and
divided into three main phases. These are colonial era and the period before Arusha
Declaration of 1967; post Arusha Declaration and the period prior to 1991 and the
period after 1991, BOT, (2011). We can trace the development of the banking sector,
in the then Tanganyika, back in the early 1900s, during the period where financial
institutions were dominated by commercial banks, BOT, (2011). According to the
BOT report, (2011) on Tanzania Mainland’s 50 Years of Independence: The Role
and Functions of the Bank of Tanzania there were only two commercial banks
established in Tanganyika, namely the Deutsche Ostafrikanische Bank, which was
established in 1905 and the Handelsbank fur Ostafrika in 1919. These banks were
principally opened for providing services to colonial rulers and a few businesses
during German colonial era.