$3 million paid out to depositors so far

Roberta Katunga, Senior Business Reporter
THE Deposit Protection Corporation (DPC) has paid more than $3 million to depositors whose savings were trapped when six banks were closed although the progress is being slowed by some of the clients who have changed contact details.

The six banks that were closed are Royal, Trust, Genesis, Allied, Interfin and AfrAsia bank.

In an interview, DPC public relations manager Mr Allen Musadziruma revealed that payments to the depositors was in progress although they were facing challenges with contacting clients whose contact details have changed.

“Compiling a database of all account holders of closed banks was not a challenge as we have the database for all six closed banks but the challenge we have on some clients is that their contact details are no longer up to date.

Contacting them directly has proved difficult,” said Mr Musadziruma.

He said through the Deposit Protection Fund, $6,4 million was available for compensation to 54 909 depositors with balances of ZW$500 and below.

“All clients of the closed banks with balances equal to or below $500 will be reimbursed in the full amount that was in their account at the time of bank closure provided they submit a claim while any balances over $500 will be paid through the liquidation process on a pro-rata basis,” said Mr Musadziruma.

He urged depositors to submit their claims to DPC for reimbursement as the funds were readily available.

Mr Musadziruma added that in addition to bank transfers, DPC was utilising mobile payments as a way of bringing convenience to clients.

AfrAsia bank was placed under liquidation in April last year while Allied bank’s shareholders surrendered the banking licence to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and it was closed in January last year.

Trust Bank was closed by RBZ in December 2013 and is under provisional liquidation with the case still before the courts while Interfin was first placed under curatorship in June 2012. The curatorship period lapsed in December 2014 and the bank was subsequently closed by RBZ and later placed under provisional liquidation in 2015.

Royal bank of Zimbabwe was closed in July 2012 and placed under provisional liquidation in 2013. Final liquidation was done in November 2014 while Genesis Investment Bank was closed in June 2012.

Meanwhile, the DPC says there was a slow uptake of compensation for Zim $ account holders in closed banks with US$929 061 having been availed to cover clients of the three closed banks Allied, AfrAsia and Interfin under the demonetisation scheme.

“We have witnessed a slow uptake despite advertising in the newspapers, radio, television and other media channels for clients to submit their forms. We urge clients of these closed banks to submit their claim forms to PC for compensation,” said Mr Musadziruma.

The demonetisation of the Zimbabwe dollar which was announced by Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa in the 2014 National Budget and in the Monetary Policy Statement of January 2015, commenced on 15 June 2015 and ended on 30 September 2015.

RBZ governor Dr John Mangudya revealed that the central bank was working with the DPC to ensure that account holders are paid by the end of April. The Deposit Protection Fund was established under Section 13 of the Deposit Protection Corporation Act (Chapter 24:29) with the primary objective of compensating depositors in full or in part, for losses incurred in the event of insolvency of a contributory institution.