Mozambique: Central bank concerned about entities that illegally collect deposits

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Mozambique: Central bank concerned about entities that illegally collect deposits

2:29 CAT | 14 Apr 2025

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Banco de Moçambique]

Mozambique’s central bank today admitted its “concern” about the increasing number of entities that collect deposits and advise clients on investments, without licensing or authorization.

“The Bank of Mozambique has been monitoring, with concern, the increase in entities which, without being licensed for this purpose, are dedicated to carrying out activities reserved for credit institutions,” reads a notice from the central bank.

The Bank of Mozambique explains that the activities in question include “collecting deposits from the public through services advertised on social networks and other means”, with the aim of “redistributing them to other members of a given group, through the application of administrative fees”.

The central bank is also targeting the “provision of investment consultancy services, with the subsequent collection of deposits from the public and the promise of making investments in financial markets”, with “greater predominance” for investments called Forex, carried out on digital platforms and in a decentralized manner.

The notice recalls that carrying out these activities “without the authorization of the Bank of Mozambique constitutes illegality”, since, according to the legislation, “only credit institutions may carry out the activity of receiving deposits or other repayable funds from the public, for use on their own behalf”.

The central bank urges users to consult the official list of institutions licensed to operate in this manner.

According to previous data from the institution, there are a total of 15 banks, 14 micro-banks, four credit unions, 13 savings and loan organizations, and 2,304 microcredit operators, among others, operating in Mozambique.

Source: Lusa