RBZ urged to halt aggressive dormant account closures

Zimbabwe's industrial and corporate leaders have called on the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) to intervene after a wave of dormant corporate account closures rattled businesses already grappling with fragile trading conditions.

In a detailed submission ahead of the central bank's forthcoming Monetary Policy Statement, the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) recommended that banks provide a minimum six-month grace period before shutting down inactive corporate accounts. The chamber warned that abrupt closures are undermining financial inclusion and exacerbating stress within the formal economy.

"Bank charges and non-funded income, high commissions and fees have been limiting financial inclusion and formal banking," the ZNCC said in its submission. "The closure of dormant corporate accounts worsens the problem."

Executives speaking to the Zimbabwe Independent said small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have been the hardest hit. Many maintain seasonal or ring-fenced accounts for specific projects, which can remain inactive for months before activity resumes.

While Zimbabwe's banking sector enforces dormant account reviews to comply with anti-money laundering and Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations, business leaders said the current exercise appears unusually aggressive. This comes amid liquidity shortages, subdued industrial output, and a sector still recovering from years of currency instability, cash shortages, and policy shifts. The 2008 hyperinflation crisis and the 2019 reintroduction of the Zimbabwe dollar left many firms wary of formal banking, resulting in a shallow deposit base and banks relying heavily on transactional and non-funded income.

The ZNCC cautioned that shuttering dormant accounts risks weakening monetary policy transmission at a delicate moment. "Businesses, especially SMEs, avoid banking channels despite the mandate to adopt the use of POS machines, weakening financial intermediation and policy transmission," the chamber said.

Industry leaders also highlighted compounding pressures from government measures, including tighter monitoring of accounts to curb parallel market activity and the recently introduced digital tax. They argued that early implementation glitches, which saw goods incorrectly swept into the tax net, have added to the administrative burden and heightened costs for businesses already navigating a stressed financial ecosystem.

The chamber urged the RBZ to take steps to persuade financial institutions to reduce bank charges and enforce transparency on non-funded income, while ensuring grace periods before closing inactive accounts. Business executives said the focus must be on rebuilding trust in the banking sector to encourage deposits and financial activity, noting that policy missteps could further destabilise Zimbabwe's formal economy.

"With industrial capacity utilisation still below potential and access to affordable credit constrained, policy missteps could unsettle fragile macroeconomic stability," one manufacturing executive said. "The focus should be on restoring confidence — once trust returns, deposits and activity will follow."

The RBZ has yet to publicly respond to the ZNCC submission, but business leaders emphasize that timely action is critical to prevent further disruption to the corporate sector.