Trust Bank assets face the hammer

Assets belonging to closed Trust Bank Corporation, which is under liquidation, will next week go under the hammer as the Deposit Protection Corporation (DPC) moves to mobilise funds to compensate depositors and creditors affected by closure of the financial institution.

Trust Bank is one of the several failed financial institutions that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) shut down in recent years.The bank was closed on December 6, 2013 after it was established that its management was abusing depositors' funds. At its closure, the bank had a core capital of $1.9 million against a minimum requirement of $25 million.

An autonomous institution that the government put in place to ensure that depositors were not prejudiced after collapse of any financial institution, the DPC was tasked with liquidation of Trust Bank.

The DPC is still in the process of establishing how much depositors and other creditors were owed as well as recovering what the bank was owed after a series of lawsuits that resulted in the bank being placed under final liquidation in May this year.

In a "liquidation sale" notice, local auctioneer, Hammer and Tongues, instructed by the DPC, said it would sale an assortment of Trust Bank assets on August 25.

The assets include over 40 vehicles as well as office furniture such as computers and printers, desks and chairs, televisions as well as generators.

The DPC paid out about $2 million to Trust Bank depositors last year in line with its mandate which at the time allowed it to pay a maximum of $500 to every affected account holder at the time the bank closed.

Last year, the DPC also sold assets belonging to another failed financial institution, Allied Bank, to raise funds to compensate depositors and other creditors.