By postcourieronline

Copyright postcourier

Following a successful phase one of a private placement, the state, through Kumul Consolidated Holdings and the National Development Bank, has diluted its shareholding in NBCL to 52 per cent.

NBCL chairman, Darrell Seeto, said that a diverse group of Papua New Guinean citizens and Papua New Guinean-owned business have taken up new equity of K100m or 48 per cent in the bank.

“Phase two of the private placement is underway and by the end of October 2025, it is expected that the state’s equity in NBCL will be further diluted to approximately 35 per cent.

The interest shown by experienced and sophisticated Papua New Guinean investors in taking up new equity in NBCL has been extremely positive and shows that these new investors have faith in the development and expansion plans of the Bank,” said Mr Seeto.

“It has always been the position of the state that it would dilute its ownership of NBCL at the earliest opportunity as a condition of the commercial banking license granted by the Bank of Papua New Guinea,” Mr Seeto said.

The bank has adopted a strategy to be competitive by servicing all market segments through an extensive branch network. Markets segments include, commercial, personal, SME, government and SOEs; agriculture and services; rural and urban; financially literate and financially illiterate.

Mr Seeto said: “NBCL is here to makean impact through financial inclusion and developing the financial sector rather than exist as a just a commercial bank.”

Since its inception, the Marape Marape Rosso Government has supported NBC with the need for competition in the banking and finance sector to ensure a more productive financial sector for the benefit of the people of PNG.

The reforms to the financial sector put in place by the late Sir Mekere Morauta included a strong governance environment for commercial banks overseen by the Bank of Papua New Guinea.

NBCL has met all its capital adequacy ratios requirements with BPNG and its latest capital raise will strengthen its balance sheet to grow in the future and compete with other commercial banks.

“In the area of competition, even though NBCL is at the moment a relatively small bank in comparison to all of its competitors, it is already creating competition as the bigger banks react to interest rate and fee offers made by NBCL to businesses and individuals who shop around for a good banking deal,” Mr Seeto said.

Ultimately, the success of any bank rests on its service and the attention it gives to its customers. If the seven commercial banks in PNG do this well, the people of Papua New Guinea are the winners. Strong governance of the banking system is in place and effective banking competition across all of Papua New Guinea, not just the major business centers, is essential.

Those sophisticated qualified citizen investors or permanent residence investors wanting to invest greater than K250,000 can still express an interest in becoming a shareholder of NBCL by registering at investorcentre@nbcpng.com.pg before 20th October 2025.

During the first quarter of 2027, it is planned that NBCL will seek a public listing on the PNG National Stock Exchange (PNGX) through an Initial Public Offering. This would allow retail customers and investors to take up equity in NBCL. NBCL will be a “Gift to the Nation” where all Papua New Guinea citizens can have a sense of ownership in a bank. Priority allocation of equity in NBCL will be given to NBCL customers and PNG citizens.