BoN to tighten grip on commercial banks

The central bank says it will continue piling pressure on banks operating in Namibia to abide by the country’s banking laws around shareholding in order to ensure that decision-making is done locally by Namibians.Bank of Namibia (BoN) governor Johannes !Gawaxab said this on the sidelines of a meeting with President Hage Geingob at State House yesterday, just days after finance minister Ipumbu Shiimi tabled the Banking Institutions Bill in the National Assembly.This proposed piece of legislation aims to, amongst other things, limit foreign ownership in commercial banks."The purpose of the engagement [at State House] was to brief the president on key geopolitical and macroeconomic developments as well as provide an update on the country’s progress with the execution of an action plan to address the Financial Action Task Force’s anti-money laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism and proliferation mutual evaluation exercise," the presidency said.On the Bill, the central bank head said: “We want a banking system and sector that works for Namibia, whereby decision-making is centralised and happening in Namibia".“We have a situation where credit extended to households and small- and medium-sized enterprises is pretty low. We want credit decisions to be taken in Namibia, by people BoN has authorised. That’s why we want to change the law so that we are able to take credit decisions in the country."Steady progress!Gawaxab also gave an update on the recruitment process of a new director for the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC). The position has been vacant for over a year now since the promotion of its former director, Leonie Dunn, to BoN assistant governor. He said steady progress had been made with regards to the process. As head of the central bank, he also serves as the chairperson of the FIC council.The oversight body is made up of, among others, the Anti-Corruption Commission, the BoN, the Namibia Central Intelligence Service, the Law Society of Namibia, the justice and home affairs ministries and the Office of the Prosecutor-General. The FIC is currently headed by Gerrit Eiman in an acting capacity.“The director’s appointment has advanced pretty far. All we really need to do is to inform the FIC council. So, once the council has been informed, we can announce the appointment,” !Gawaxab said.Questionable transfersDuring an annual review in 2020, the FIC said it had flagged over N$10 billion in questionable transfers forming part of the now infamous Fishrot scandal. A total of 697 business and entity accounts and 303 individuals were analysed. In addition, 27 orders were made while 40 assets and 29 immovable properties were identified as the proceeds of crime, with 27 requests made to foreign financial intelligence units.

BoN to tighten grip on commercial banks

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-02

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BoN to tighten grip on commercial banks

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-02

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