History

On February 15, 1973, President Siaka Probyn Stevens’ vision of an indigenous commercial bank became a reality as the country’s first indigenous bank, the Sierra Leone Commercial Bank Limited (SLCB), opened its doors to customers. Established under the Companies Act of 1948 as a limited liability company, with its first offices at Walpole Street in Freetown, the SLCB was the first commercial bank to be wholly owned and managed by Sierra Leoneans.

Two years later, the Walpole Street offices became too small to accommodate the many customers the bank had captured. Consequently, planning commenced for the bank to acquire its own building, and on April 11, 1980, SLCB formally opened its 12-story ultra-modern building at Siaka Stevens Street in Freetown with its own resources. That building came to be known as the Christian Smith Building on 29–31 Siaka Stevens Street, Freetown. With a view to extending services to the provinces, SLCB opened its first provincial branch in Koidu in 1975, followed by Kenema and Njala branches within another 2 years.

SLCB leverages a large network of strategically located branches across the country, with its headquarters at 29–31 Siaka Stevens Street, Freetown. The brick-and-mortar branches are Njala, Mobimbi, Koidu, and Bo in the South Province; Waterloo, Kissy, Clinetown, Wilkinson Road, Lightfoot Boston Street, Wilberforce Barracks, and Siaka Stevens Street in Freetown; Kenema and Koidu in the East Province; Makeni and Port Loko in the North Province. The "Mi Yone SLCB Kiosks" can be located in Freetown at Adonkia, Jui, Spur Loop Junction at Wilberforce, and the Youyi Building.

In 2016, the bank, in its strategic branch expansion drive, worked to move away from its usual brick-and-mortar structures to a new service known as "Mi Yone SLCB Kiosk" and "Mi Yone SLCB Tellers". The Mi Yone SLCB Kiosk is a low-cost digital outlet offering full-fledged banking services to the unbanked and underserved communities. Whereas the ‘Mi Yone SLCB Tellers’ is a digital branchless banking solution that is meant to increase penetration of basic banking services such as account opening, making deposits and withdrawals, checking balances, printing mini statements, and funds transfers. Basically, it targets the unbanked and therefore reaches their doorsteps. The banking application works on a mobile handset or tablet that is used by a teller to facilitate operations within or outside the branch or Mi Yone SLCB Kiosk.