The bank was founded in 1959 as a joint venture by Standard Bank Limited and Mercantile Credit Company Limited, both headquartered in South Africa and the United Kingdom respectively.
In May 2009, NIC Bank acquired a 51% shareholding interest in Savings and Finance Commercial Bank, a small Tanzanian retail bank with approximately US$30 million in assets and approximately US$5 million in shareholder's equity at the time [REF].