MauBank Joins Npcc–jica Operational Excellence Programme

In Short

MauBank has been picked as a Model Company in Mauritius under the NPCC–JICA Operational Excellence and Productivity Improvement Programme.

What Happened

MauBank said it has started participating in the NPCC–JICA Operational Excellence and Productivity Improvement Programme, a national productivity initiative run by the National Productivity and Competitiveness Council (NPCC) with support from JICA, Japan’s international development agency.

MauBank was selected as one of the programme’s Model Companies in the service sector. That status means it will work directly with NPCC and Japanese specialists to study global best practices and test changes inside the bank.

The work will focus on Lean Management and Kaizen. Lean is a method for reducing waste in processes, like cutting duplicate steps in approvals or removing rework in customer service tickets. Kaizen is a continuous improvement approach, where teams make small, regular changes instead of waiting for big restructures.

MauBank said it will run the programme with a cross-functional internal team. Staff involved in the project are expected to spread the tools and learnings across their units, so changes do not stay trapped in one department.

Why It Matters

For banks, operational excellence is not only about cost reduction. It can also improve turnaround times for onboarding, loan processing, dispute resolution, and internal controls.

If MauBank executes well, it could translate into more consistent service quality and fewer operational bottlenecks. It also signals that Mauritian financial institutions are investing in process discipline, a practical layer that often sits behind digital banking, cybersecurity, and customer experience improvements.

At a national level, Model Company programmes can create reference cases. Other service businesses can learn from what worked, what failed, and how to implement improvement methods with local constraints like staffing, legacy systems, and compliance requirements.