The Bank of Mozambique has appointed, effective Monday, Zaitina Raul Chilaule, a senior manager at the Bank of Mozambique, to inspect Standard Bank, following sanctions imposed recently.

According to a note from the Central Bank, the inspector is to, among other tasks, "monitor the implementation of the shareholder action plan, monitor and analyze developments in the bank's governance and internal control system, and participate in relevant meetings of the collegial bodies."

In the same note, the Bank of Mozambique ensures that Standard Bank shareholders continue to collaborate in order to implement the action plan to correct the irregularities identified, and that all operations in the banking system are running smoothly.

"The resident inspector is responsible, among other tasks, for monitoring the implementation of the shareholder action plan, monitoring and analyzing developments in the bank's governance and internal control system, and participating in relevant meetings of the collegial bodies," says the regulator's note, which also describes Zaitina Raul as a "senior staff member" of the Bank of Mozambique.

Standard Bank's suspension from the Interbank Foreign Exchange Market was announced on June 23rd and, on the following day, the Mozambican central bank announced the opening of three "contravention processes" against that bank and two of its employees, namely Adimohanma Chukwuama and Carlos Madeira, who are disqualified from holding positions in credit institutions for six years and will have to pay fines of six million meticais and 14 million meticais, respectively.

The commercial bank will also have to pay a fine of 290 million meticals, after "serious violations" were found during inspections, most notably fraudulent manipulation of the exchange rate.

In today's note, the Bank of Mozambique stresses that the shareholders of that institution are collaborating with the regulator, also reiterating that "all operations in the banking system take place within normality.

Data from the Mozambican central bank released in April indicated Standard Bank as the third in the list of the three systemically important banks in Mozambique, in a list led by Banco Comercial e de Investimentos (BCI) and in which Banco Internacional de Moçambique (Millennium Bim) is in second position.