Novo Banco’s stake to change, but Moza Bank wants to maintain partnership

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Novo Banco’s stake to change, but Moza Bank wants to maintain partnership

1:49 CAT | 13 Apr 2017

Lusa (File photo)

The participation of Novo Banco (NB) in Moza Banco in Mozambique is expected to change, but the partnership “continues to make sense”, whatever form it may assume, the chairman of Moza told Lusa.

“Novo Banco has already informed the authorities and other partners that for internal reasons it will not participate in the capital increase operation that is currently taking place at Moza Banco,” João Figueiredo said in response to questions posed by Lusa in Maputo.

“Novo Banco’s current situation is a constraint and, as is normal, the natural consequence of this positioning will be a dilution of its participation,” he added.

“Regardless of whether the capital ratio may or may not be maintained, the partnership with the Novo Banco, which may even take on other contours, continues to make sense to us and to Novo Banco,” he said.

Both banking institutions are going through testing times.

In Portugal, a promissory agreement was signed on March 31 between the Resolution Fund and the US Lone Star Fund for the sale of 75 percent of Novo Banco, maintaining the 25 percent Resolution Fund.

In Mozambique, Moza Banco, 49 percent owned by Novo Banco and 50.9 percent owned by Mozambique Capitais, was the object of intervention, receiving an injection of eight billion meticais (EUR104 million) from the Bank of Mozambique in December, and now a capital increase of 8.17 billion meticais (EUR107.7 million).

In September 2016, the Bank of Mozambique called on Figueiredo to reverse a situation which the regulator classified by as “unsustainable”.

As an institution owned by Novo Banco, Moza follows “naturally” and “attentively the evolution of the bank’s corporate life”, Figueiredo said in a written response to questions posed by Lusa.

“We have confidence in the evolution of Novo Banco, an institution with strong roots in the Portuguese financial system, and we look forward to the outcome of the ongoing process,” Figueiredo said.

What will happen to Novo Banco’s participation in Moza remains an open question.

“We believe that everything will depend on the potential investor who enters into the capital of the bank, its vision and its strategic positioning,” he said, while still maintaining that the relationship with Novo Banco has a future.

“I must emphasise that since the Bank of Mozambique intervention, we have had frank and very important cooperation from Novo Banco,” he added.

According to the regulator, at the end of 2016, Moza was Mozambique’s fourth largest bank with more than 93,000 private and 8,000 corporate clients, a market share of 7.71 percent and 48 branches across almost the whole country.

Source: Lusa