Bank of Mozambique fines five banking institutions

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Bank of Mozambique fines five banking institutions

1:52 CAT | 23 Oct 2018

In file CoM

The Bank of Mozambique has announced that is has fined five banking institutions operating in the country a total of 1.3 million Euros, including banks part-owned by Portugal.

The regulator says the five banks have violating money laundering and terrorist financing laws, an well as breaking credit institution and financial company legislation.

The largest fine, amounting to half a million Euros, was imposed on Banco Unico for having failed in 2016 and 2017 to report suspicious transactions, establish the risk profile of clients and control certain transactions.

Banco Unico is controlled by South African bank Nedbank, with 50% plus one share of the capital. Its second-largest shareholder is Gevisar SGPS, a partnership between Portugal’s Visabeira and Corticeira Amorim, with 30.23%.

The second largest fine, EUR 289,000, was applied to Banco Comercial e de Investimentos (BCI) for failing to immediately report suspicious transactions between 2013 and 2017 and failing to provide substantiated information to the Public Prosecutor’s Office (PGR).

BCI is 97% owned by Portuguese banks Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD, with 61.51%) and BPI (35.67%), which in December strengthened their positions after receiving shares of the Insitec group.

The UBA-United Bank for Africa (EUR 258,000 euros), the BNI-National Investment Bank (EUR 229,000) and Millennium Bim (EUR 5,000) were also fined for failing to provide complete information under the credit institutions and financial companies law.

The main shareholders of Millennium Bim are the Portuguese BCP (66.6%) and the Mozambique government (17.2%).

This was the second time the Mozambican central bank has published a list of offending financial institutions and the fines handed down, having done so for the first time last April, when fines totalling two million Euros were handed out to a total of 15 institutions.

Source: Lusa