Mthuli Ncube's Barbican Bank resumes operations

Barbican Bank and Intermarket Banking Corporation which were placed under curatorship a few years ago will resume operations soon Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Dr Governor Gideon Gono has said.
Barbican Bank was shut down and amalgamated into Zimbabwe Allied Banking Group (ZABG) at the height of the financial services sector clean up in late 2003 over alleged mismanagement.
Dr Gono told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy that the two banks were in talks with the central bank to re-open.
"Very soon, if negotiations that are taking place succeed, we should see Intermarket getting back into the market," he said, adding Barbican, had since been re-issued with its operating licence.
Dr Gono said the RBZ was "letting bygones be bygones" but would stress to the former bank owners that breaking the law would not be tolerated.
"We are going to sit down with the colleagues to say, this is not the way things should be done and do not do it again, here is your licence," he said.
Some of the banks, which had been amalgamated into the ZABG, have resumed operations.
As at the end of December last year, Zimbabwe had a total of 25 banking institutions, 15 of them commercial banks, five merchant banks, four building societies and one savings bank.
Re-opening of the two banks will result in the country having 17 commercial banks, reigniting the debate on whether or not the economy is over banked.