History

The first meeting of Preferential Trade Area (PTA) Banks, as it was then named, was held in 1985 in Harare, Zimbabwe, under the auspices of the PTA Secretariat. At that Meeting, ten resolutions were adopted, and among these was the formation of a PTA Association of Commercial Banks. At their sixth meeting in December of 1987, the PTA Authority, i.e. Heads of States and Government in the PTA, endorsed the decision of the establishment of the PTA Association of Commercial Banks.

In 1988 the Articles of Association were signed and the inaugural meeting took place in 1989 in Arusha, Tanzania. In 1994 the Association was renamed the COMESA Bankers' Association.

In 1999, the Association was invited to move to Blantyre, Malawi.