The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) has officially revoked the license of Bank M, a leading private bank, and transferred all its assets and liabilities to Azania Bank Limited, majority owned by pension funds.

"Following the acquisition of Bank M's assets and liabilities, Azania Bank Limited, which was a medium-size bank, will now become one of the five largest banks in Tanzania," said Bernard Kibesse, BoT deputy Governor, on Tuesday.

Azania Bank Ltd has assets worth 468.64 billion Tanzanian shillings (about 204.33 million U.S. dollars) and customer deposits amounting to just over 300 billion Tanzanian shillings, according to its latest financial statements for the quarter ending September 2018, making it one of the relatively smaller banks in the country.

The bank, which has 346 employees and 14 branches, is owned by the Parastatal Public Servant Service Fund (PSSSF) with a 62 percent stake, followed by the National Social Security Fund (35.27 percent), East African Development Bank (1.54 percent) and individual shareholders.

"Bank M had a big liquidity problem and could not honor its maturing obligations, hence the decision of the central bank to put the bank under administration," Kibesse told a news conference at the central bank's headquarters in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.

"After acquiring the assets and liabilities of Bank M, Azania Bank will now have a capital of 164 billion Tanzanian shillings, which is way above the minimum capital requirement of 15 billion shillings," he said.

BoT took over the administration of Bank M Tanzania Plc in August last year after it faced serious liquidity problems.

In January 2018, the BoT revoked the banking licenses of Covenant Bank, Efatha Bank, Njombe Community Bank, Kagera Farmers' Cooperative Bank, and Meru Community Bank, due to undercapitalization.