Standard Bank will remain barred from participating in the interbank foreign exchange market for another year, 12 months after the Bank of Mozambique (BM) suspended the institution from this type of operations for "serious violations".

"The decision stems from the fact that the central bank found, during its monitoring of that financial institution since July 2021, evidence of serious irregularities that dictated its impediment, in force for the last 12 months, despite some improvements," reads a statement from the WB.

However, Standard Bank will continue to be authorized to perform currency conversion activities and must use the reference exchange rate published by the regulator.

Reacting to the Central Bank's decision, Standard Bank said in a statement that the institution is not prohibited from working with its clients and is currently in talks with the BM to remedy the problems

"Standard Bank continues to work with the Bank of Mozambique to resolve all outstanding issues from the 2021 audit in order to be readmitted to the interbank foreign exchange market," the commercial bank's note indicates.

Standard Bank's suspension from the Interbank Foreign Exchange Market was announced on June 23 of last year, and the next day the WB announced the opening of three "misdemeanor cases" against that banking institution and two of its employees.

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

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 Internacional de Moçambique (Millennium Bim) and in which Banco Comercial e de Investimentos (BCI) is in the second position.

In the ratio that measures the importance to the sector, labeled with the English acronym D-SIB, Millennium Bim tops the list with 251 points, followed by BCI with 228 and Standard Bank with 139.