News / National
Panic grips Standard Chartered Bank clients in Zimbabwe
09 Apr 2013 at 21:32hrs | Views
In a statement, Dr Gono said it had come to the Reserve Bank's attention that there were unnecessary signs of instability and anxiety among stakeholders especially depositors who do business with Standard Chartered Bank Zimbabwe Limited.
"The instability is manifesting itself in the form of clients wanting to withdraw all their deposits from the bank for fear that they will lose their hard-earned savings should the bank be closed as has been threatened by the NIEEB officals at the weekend," said Dr Gono.
The Governor said the Central Bank was the only authority which issued or withdrew banking licences from players in the Zimbabwean financial sector, not NIEEB.
"All stakeholders of the bank and indeed, of other banks are hereby advised not to panic or wantonly withdraw their funds from the bank as the Central Bank, which is the sole authority which issues and withdraws banking licences has not signalled any move in the direction intimated by NIEEB nor in any other way suggesting that Standard Chartered Bank will lose its business licence for any reason in the near future," he said.
Dr Gono even quoted provisions from the Reserve Bank, which authenticates the bank's autonomy over other players.
He said the Central Bank had no intention of violating any of its statutory functions and was not in agreement with the NIEEB position.
"The Reserve Bank Act, Chapter 22:15 Sections 6 (1) requires the Central Bank to section (c) foster the liquidity, solvency, stability and proper functioning of Zimbabwe's financial system and Section (e) to supervise banking institutions and promote the smooth operation of the payment system in Zimbabwe. Section 6 (1) (g) also requires the RBZ to act as banker and financial adviser to, and fiscal agent of, the State, among other functions," said the Reserve Bank Governor.
He said there were laws which had to be followed before any indigenisation and empowerment was implemented.
Dr Gono warned that destabilising a large bank such as Standard Chartered had serious systemic consequences that could lead to unintended results which are opposite to those that the implementors would have hoped to achieve.
"Bearing in mind though that in implementing this law due regard and observation must be made of other pieces of legislation on our books which serve to complement or counter balance each other such as the Exchange Control Act and Regulations Chapter 22:05, the Reserve Bank Act Chapter 22:15, Procurement Act Chapter 22:14, Public Finance Management Act Chapter 22:19, Corporate Governance Framework for Parastatals, the Arbitration Act Chapter 7:15, Mines and Minerals Act Chapter 21:05 (if it's a mining entity), the Companies Act Chapter 24:03 and others.
"The template of Zimbabwe's indigenisation and empowerment programme is for all Zimbabweans to contribute towards its fulfillment in the best interests of the broad masses of identifiable beneficiaries and we believe that in the Banking Sector, it is still work-in-progress and no one should take precipitous positions that are to the detriment of the sector as a whole," he said.
"The instability is manifesting itself in the form of clients wanting to withdraw all their deposits from the bank for fear that they will lose their hard-earned savings should the bank be closed as has been threatened by the NIEEB officals at the weekend," said Dr Gono.
The Governor said the Central Bank was the only authority which issued or withdrew banking licences from players in the Zimbabwean financial sector, not NIEEB.
"All stakeholders of the bank and indeed, of other banks are hereby advised not to panic or wantonly withdraw their funds from the bank as the Central Bank, which is the sole authority which issues and withdraws banking licences has not signalled any move in the direction intimated by NIEEB nor in any other way suggesting that Standard Chartered Bank will lose its business licence for any reason in the near future," he said.
Dr Gono even quoted provisions from the Reserve Bank, which authenticates the bank's autonomy over other players.
He said the Central Bank had no intention of violating any of its statutory functions and was not in agreement with the NIEEB position.
"The Reserve Bank Act, Chapter 22:15 Sections 6 (1) requires the Central Bank to section (c) foster the liquidity, solvency, stability and proper functioning of Zimbabwe's financial system and Section (e) to supervise banking institutions and promote the smooth operation of the payment system in Zimbabwe. Section 6 (1) (g) also requires the RBZ to act as banker and financial adviser to, and fiscal agent of, the State, among other functions," said the Reserve Bank Governor.
He said there were laws which had to be followed before any indigenisation and empowerment was implemented.
Dr Gono warned that destabilising a large bank such as Standard Chartered had serious systemic consequences that could lead to unintended results which are opposite to those that the implementors would have hoped to achieve.
"Bearing in mind though that in implementing this law due regard and observation must be made of other pieces of legislation on our books which serve to complement or counter balance each other such as the Exchange Control Act and Regulations Chapter 22:05, the Reserve Bank Act Chapter 22:15, Procurement Act Chapter 22:14, Public Finance Management Act Chapter 22:19, Corporate Governance Framework for Parastatals, the Arbitration Act Chapter 7:15, Mines and Minerals Act Chapter 21:05 (if it's a mining entity), the Companies Act Chapter 24:03 and others.
"The template of Zimbabwe's indigenisation and empowerment programme is for all Zimbabweans to contribute towards its fulfillment in the best interests of the broad masses of identifiable beneficiaries and we believe that in the Banking Sector, it is still work-in-progress and no one should take precipitous positions that are to the detriment of the sector as a whole," he said.
Source - TC
