The banking confidentiality law in Tanzania: an appraisal

Abstract

The banker’s duty of confidentiality to its customers, which is founded on the contract between banks and their customers, is one of the pillars governing the banker-customer relationship in Tanzania. The banks have the obligation to keep information concerning their customers’ affairs confidential. The law permits the duty of confidentiality to be lifted in certain specific situations including where information related to customers’ transactions is required to prevent or control unlawful activities such as money laundering, terrorism, drug trafficking and corruption or to facilitate the conduct of legal proceedings in courts. This article argues that the legal compulsion to disclose affairs of a bank customer in Tanzania is moving to the direction that undermines banking confidentiality. There is a need for the government of Tanzania to reform the law in order to establish a legal framework that strikes a balance between the need to protect legitimate interests of customers of banks and the necessity to fight against or curb unlawful activities committed through the use of banks.