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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.
Meanwhile, Dr Gono said Government still owed Zimbabweans huge amounts of money as a result of the adoption of the multi-currencies.
Zimbabwe adopted multiple currencies in 2009. As a result, all local currency bank account still require to be converted into United States dollars.
“As RBZ we have no money but we are saying this is a liability of the State that should be paid like yesterday,” Dr Gono said, adding the Ministry of Finance was still “seized with the matter.”
He could, however, not reveal the exchange rate that would be used to determine how much individuals were owed.
Initial estimates indicated that Government would require slightly over US$2 million for the conversion. – New Ziana.