adminNewly appointed Steward Bank chief executive officer Mr Kwanele Ngwenya, officially announcing the rebranding from TN Bank, said that Steward Bank had exceeded the June 2013 minimum threshold.
“As you know, we are 100 percent owned by Econet Wireless, I am happy to say that the Bank is well capitalised to the tune of US$75,1 million as at February 2013,” he said.
“By June 2013 we should have been at US$50 million, we have already surpassed that. We have already met the December 2013 deadline, so we very excited about the journey and definitely we will meet our capitalisation target by June 2014”.
Announcing the new minimum capital threshold last year Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr Gideon Gono said that the increase was necessitated by the dynamic nature of the financial landscape, regulatory requirements, increasing competition and economic uncertainties, which placed an unprecedented pressure on banks to be adequately capitalised.
The central bank chief said banks with higher capital had greater loss absorption capacity and resilience to shocks.
Minimum capital levels for commercial banks and merchant banks were raised from US$12,5 million and US$10 million, respectively, to US$100 million for both categories.
The central bank raised minimum capital levels for building societies from US$10 million to US$80 million, discount and finance houses from US$7,5 million to US$60 million and US$5 million from US$1 million for asset management firms.
Each class of banking was expected to have met 25 percent compliance by December last year, 50 percent by June 2013, 75 percent by December 2013 and 100 percent by June 2014.
Online Reporter