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The governor of the Bank of Mozambique said yesterday that the choice of the Kuhanha company, which manages the central bank’s own pension fund, to recapitalise Moza Banco, prevented it from being used for money laundering.
“We wanted to be sure that Moza Banco would not be used for money laundering. I will not lie: there were investors who came forward with that intention,” Rogério Zandamela said during a press conference in Maputo.
According to central bank governor, who did not offer any names, some proposals from investors did not present the true source of funding.
“These investors even wanted to buy the bank in its entirety, but they were of dubious character,” the governor explained, noting that the country was already a source of bad news on the financial front and could not afford to “make another mistake” of such magnitude.
Zandamela said that there were also proposals from investors who wanted only “pieces” of Moza, which was legally impossible.
Mozambique’s Central Public Ethics Commission (CCEP) announced on Monday last week that it had asked the Bank of Mozambique for information on whether there was a conflict of interest in the awarding of Moza Banco to the central bank’s pension fund.
Zandamela acknowledged yesterday that Kuhanha’s choice was a “Plan B”, but the only one viable in the current context.
“If we had not been pragmatic, Moza Bank would have been liquidated, frankly speaking,” Zandamela said, noting that this was the first time that the country had had to intervene in a systemically important bank using a law which treated large and small banks alike.
The continued presence of João Figueiredo as chairman of the provisional board of directors of Moza Banco has also generated discussion in Mozambique, since he is also a shareholder of Banco Único.
Zandamela said that Figueiredo’s appointment did not violate any regulations and had been made solely on the basis of his competence and experience.
Kuhanha is chaired by the governor of the central bank and its leadership includes central bank administrators. It becomes the majority shareholder with 80 percent, while the Portuguese Novo Banco, which previously owned 49 percent, and Mozambique Capitais, with 50.9 percent, now each own percent 10 percent.
Kuhanha will inject 8,170 million meticais (EUR 122 million) into the bank.
Moza Banco had already received an injection of eight billion meticais (EUR 119 million) from the central bank, following the suspension in September 2016 of its board of directors and the executive committee.
At the time, the Bank of Mozambique said that the suspension was aimed at “protecting the interests of depositors”, but it raised fears about the robustness of the Mozambican financial system, a problem aggravated by the announcement of the dissolution of O Nosso Banco at about the same time.
According to the regulator, at the end of 2016, Moza was Mozambique’s fourth largest bank with 48 branches throughout the country and more than 93,000 private and 8,000 corporate customers, and a market share of 7.71 percent.
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