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Minister Prisca Mupfumira

THE government has appointed a nine-member board of directors to spearhead the establishment of a National Social Security Authority (NSSA) building society by August this year.

The setting up of the new bank is aimed at strengthening the authority’s investment portfolio and offering non-monetary incentives in the form of affordable housing loans for civil servants and low income workers.

NSSA was recently granted a licence to operate the mortgage lender, which will be a successor to the failed Capital Bank whose operating licence was cancelled last June.

About $5 million is expected to be injected as seed capital for the bank, according to Public Service, Labour and Social Services Minister, Prisca Mupfumira.

The appointment of the nine directors will pave way for the appointment of a new management team.

The board will be led by chairman Gamaliel Mhofu Bwanya whose deputy will be Precious Sibiya.

Other members include David Mnangagwa, Jean Maguranyanga, Nimrod Chiminya, Tinotenda Kambasha, Sibusisiwe Bango, Josephine Ncube and James Matiza.

“We’ve met all the other requirements for the building society licence,” Mupfumira told a press briefing on Monday.

She added that a new NSSA board, which would be announced in a fortnight, would allocate the funds to the financial institution.

Meanwhile, civil servants have demanded direct representation on the board for the new bank saying this would ensure protection of their interests.

Scores of civil servants struggle to acquire stands or houses due to exorbitant prices charged by private developers.

NSSA is a significant shareholder in FBC Bank, but it’s alliance with Capital Bank failed dismally when it was shut down last year.

The bank was deemed unsafe and financially unsound, with its existence characterised by undercapitalisation, persistent losses, chronic liquidity challenges and inordinately high levels of non-performing loans.

The bank was part of Patterson Timba’s Renaissance Holdings, which collapsed in 2011 in a cloud of poor corporate governance allegations. — The Source/Chronicle Business