In one of the unprecedented actions in the country, the Bank of Mozambique has banned Standard Bank, from all foreign exchange activity, for a period of up to one year. In its justification, the Central Bank says it has discovered serious violations, which include the installation and implementation of an illegal payment network based outside the country.
The decision of the Bank of Mozambique divides opinions, but for economist Yassifir Ibrahimo, for the arguments presented, there is merit in the decision.
“Standard Bank is a robust bank in foreign exchange and current transactions has some potentiality to generate influences on the exchange rate, forcing the depreciation of the Metical and a possible appreciation of the US dollar to materialize what are their gains and reduce the losses derived from these indicators, said Ibrahimo, quoted by VOA.
Merit or demerit aside, the fact is that a decision like this for the bank with strong weight in the national financial system will have an impact on customers at all levels. Economist Egas Daniel talks about what the bottlenecks could be.
“An abrupt change of this relevant player that will be passed on to other banks always has an impact in terms of time and bureaucracy, in terms of transactions that may be delayed, and we have to know to what extent we will have sufficient fluidity in the financial system to minimize losses for economic agents, especially for large corporations,” Daniel pointed out.
Through a press release, Standard Bank says it is committed to do business ethically and responsibly and will continue to dialogue with the Bank of Mozambique to clarify all allegations and safeguard the interests of customers.
