The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE)-listed financial institution, FBC Holdings has completed the integration of its building society operations into its commercial bank.
“FBC Holdings Limited wishes to advise its valued customers, shareholders and the general public that the merger between FBC Bank Limited and FBC Building Society has been successfully implemented and is now operationally effective as of 30 December 2025,” the Bank’s group company secretary, Tichaona Mabeza, said in a statement issued today.
This follows the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion’s approval of the merger last month.
“(The) merger was undertaken in accordance with the Banking Act (Chapter 24.20) and followed all required regulatory approvals, including approval by the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, as gazetted on 12 December, 2025,” Mabeza said.
The company official explained that the cancellation of the FBC licence meant that the former institution ceased to exist and its banking business would be transferred to the commercial bank.
Mabeza further indicated that all former building society customers would now be fully integrated into FBC Bank. He assured stakeholders that customers’ deposits, accounts and contractual obligations remained safe, intact and fully accessible. Mabeza further explained that the merger would not result in any changes in FBC Holdings’ structure or financial stability.
The building society was founded in 1992 as the Zimbabwe Building Society (ZBS), before being renamed FBC Building Society in 2005, when FBC Holdings acquired a controlling stake in the company.
Former Cabinet Minister, Francis Nhema’s family owned 60 percent of the building society at the time and relinquished it to FBC Holdings in exchange for a 3.5 percent stake in the financial holding company.
The merger of the operations of FBC Holding’s commercial bank and building society marks a further reduction in the number of building societies in Zimbabwe. This has been driven by the decreasing viability of the sector over the past two decades. For example, according to the property.co.zw blog, in 2023 mortgages accounted for only 8.85 percent of the total loans issued by banks.
In January last year, another financial group, ZB Financial Holdings, announced that it would surrender its ZB Building Society (formerly Founders Building Society)’s banking licence to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) at the end of the year, as it had failed to meet the stipulated US$20 million capitalisation requirement over a number of years. The company surrendered its licence at the end of last year, which was confirmed by the RBZ’s Registrar of Building Societies, Phillip Madamombe, this week.
In May 2022 the RBZ had approved the amalgamation of the CBZ Building Society and its commercial bank, CBZ Bank. CBZ Holdings acquired Beverly Building Society in 2006 and rebranded it to CBZ Building Society.
Given that most house purchase transactions in Zimbabwe are being carried out on a cash basis or home-seekers are being availed buying terms by mainly land developers, the building society banking model is fast losing its relevance as a source of home ownership finance as was the case before. In some cases, commercial banks themselves are now playing the role of land developers as is the case with FBC Bank, whose property arm is FBC Properties (Pvt) Ltd. Other commercial banks which have developed property divisions include CBZ, NMB, Stanbic and ZB Bank.
According to a South Africa-based financial expert, Tinashe Mukogo, Zimbabwean bank property holdings are worth US$247.1 million compared to US$62 million for South African financial institutions.
FBC Holdings’ merger leaves Zimbabwe with just two building societies, namely the Old Mutual-owned CABS and the National Building Society (NBS), which the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) set up and opened in 2016.
