BCI “is not a party” in lawsuit involving CEO – Portuguese shareholders

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BCI “is not a party” in lawsuit involving CEO – Portuguese shareholders

3:02 CAT | 29 Aug 2019

File photo: Lusa

The two Portuguese reference shareholders of the Commercial and Investment Bank of Mozambique (BCI) yesterday pointed out that the bank “is not a party” to the lawsuit involving chairman of the Executive Committee of BCI Paulo Sousa, who has been fined and barred by the Bank of Mozambique.

“BCI is not party to the lawsuit, and shareholders have been informed that the person concerned will appeal the decision in accordance with the law,” Caixa Geral de Depósitos and Banco BPI say in a joint statement sent to Lusa on Wednesday, adding that they would “continue to work closely with the Mozambican authorities.”

The Bank of Mozambique fined and barred chairman of the Executive Committee of BCI Paulo Sousa, an official of the Portuguese Caixa Geral de Depósitos, the majority owner of one of Mozambique’s main banks.

“Caixa Geral de Depósitos and Banco BPI, shareholders of the Mozambican-based Banco Comercial e de Investimentos, took note of the decision of Bank of Mozambique, announced today, that the chairman of the BCI Executive Committee had been fined 200,000 meticais and penalised for inhibiting the exercise of social positions and management functions in credit institutions and financial companies,” the two shareholders said in the statement.

They however insisted that BCI “continues to function normally, with its fully-fledged corporate bodies, namely the Board of Directors and its Executive Committee, ensuring the regular functioning of the bank and the normal provision of services to its customers.”

Under the Credit Institutions and Financial Companies Act, the Mozambican financial system regulator imposed “a fine of 200,000 meticais (about €2,900)” on the president of BCI and “disqualification from the exercise of corporate positions and functions of management in credit institutions and financial corporations for three years,” the Bank of Mozambique announced yesterday in a statement.

According to the Bank of Mozambique, “the defendant acted in a conflict of interest when participating in the process of appraising and deciding on the proposed acquisition of Interbancos by the Interbank Company of Mozambique (SIMO),” the financial regulator explains.

Interbancos and SIMO are electronic banking and automated teller machine platforms in Mozambique.

The Bank of Mozambique justifies its decision on the grounds that Paulo Sousa represented, “simultaneously, the interests of SIMO, as director, and Interbancos as chairman of the board.”

Citing the law, the statement says that “members of administrative or supervisory bodies may not participate in the assessment and decision on acquisition of shares … in companies or other collective entities of which they are managers or in which they hold significant holdings.”

Paulo Sousa has served as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Commercial and Investment Bank since 2013.

Mozambican bank BCI posted net income of 4.026 million meticais (€56.8 million) in 2018, a 62.7% increase over the previous year. The bank has 203 branches and business units across the country – 55 in rural areas.

Source: Lusa