‘Time Bank to reopen soon’
BUSINESS REPORTER
Zimbabwe’s first locally-owned commercial bank, Time Bank, says it is set to reopen soon, 17 years after its licence was revoked by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).
The bank was supposed to reopen on December 1.
In a notice Time Bank said it was on course to re-open “as soon as it has secured all the necessary approvals from the authorities”.
“The processes of seeking the regulatory approvals for the re-opening of Time Bank are being finalised. The public will be advised accordingly in the near future,” it said.
The bank has said that it will focus more on investment banking.
In October, Time Bank announced that it would introduce a number of products, among them a facility to finance the payout by government of previous farmer owners who lost their land during the fast track land reform programme.
Under the agreement signed last year between the government and representatives of the former farmers, Zimbabwe agreed to pay US$3.5bn as compensation to former commercial white farmers for the loss of land, 20 years after the government embarked on the fast track land reform.
According to the agreement, half of the amount (US$1.75bn) was supposed to be paid by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration as deposit in July and the balance in four-year instalments of US$437.5m per year.
Government struggled to raise the deposit and pushed the payment to July next year.
Founded by Chris Tande, Time Bank began operations in 1997 becoming the first locally owned commercial bank. Other locals owned merchant banks and discount houses were to follow years later.
But the bank was closed in 2004 by the central bank. Time Bank disputed the reasons for its closure and cancellation of its licence and was the first bank to take RBZ to the courts.
The protracted legal battle unearthed that the bank was owed US$5m by RBZ which created financial problems for the bank.
Then governor Leonard Tsumba agreed to refund the money but his term of office ended before the funds could be refunded.
His predecessor Gideon Gono was accused to have reneged in repaying the bank which forced Time Bank to approach the courts.
RBZ responded by putting the bank under a curator in 2004 and cancelled the licence two years later.
The licence was restored by the courts in 2009 but the bank could not operate as RBZ could not do a hand over of the assets, documents and affairs of Time Bank in the normal way at the end of curatorship, from the former curator to the bank’s directors. Another legal battle ensued.
However, while the dispute was raging on, Time Bank paid out all its known depositors and employees their full amounts in 2006.
RBZ governor John Mangudya resolved the dispute in 2015 when RBZ and Time Bank negotiated and entered into a settlement agreement under which RBZ agreed to refund the US$5m which had been taken from the institution before it was closed.
