The Bank of Mozambique on Friday announced the opening of two more “contraventionary processes” against two managers from Standard Bank, who will each also have to pay a fine of just over 1 million meticals.
Claudio Banze, director of Information Technology, and Adimohanma Chukwuma, a former managing director, have, in the view of the Bank of Mozambique, committed “serious offences related to the implementation of an illegal payment network based outside the country,” according to a statement from the central bank.
In addition to the fine, the two managers are banned from holding corporate positions and management positions in credit institutions and financial companies in the country for a period of three years.
Standard Bank was suspended from the Interbank Foreign Exchange Market on 23 June, after the Bank of Mozambique found “serious violations” during inspections, including fraudulent manipulation of the exchange rate.
At the time, the central bank announced the opening of two criminal proceedings against Standard Bank managers, including Adimohanma Chukwuama, who had been required to pay a fine of six million meticais and banned for six years from holding positions in credit institutions in the country, and this was his second case.
The commercial bank was also forced to pay a fine of 290 million meticais and a resident inspector was appointed to monitor the institution’s activities.
A month after the suspension, the Bank of Mozambique authorised Standard Bank to carry out foreign exchange activities of currency conversion with its customers, although it remains barred from participating in the Interbank Foreign Exchange Market.
Data from the Mozambican central bank published in April showed Standard Bank as third on the list of the three banks of systemic importance in Mozambique, on a list led by Banco Comercial e de Investimentos (BCI) and with Banco Internacional de Moçambique (Millennium Bim) in second place.
