MAPUTO (Reuters) – The central bank of Mozambique has extended the suspension of Standard Bank from the country’s Interbank Foreign Exchange Market (MCI) for another year, the Bank of Mozambique said on Friday.
The South Africa-based lender was fined $4.6 million in July 2021 by the Mozambique’s central bank for engaging in “fraudulent activities” and was barred from engaging in some exchange-related activities for a year.
The central bank said it decided to extend the suspension, which comes into effect from July 24, after it found during the course of its monitoring of Standard Bank since July 2021, evidence of serious irregularities, despite some improvements.
However, the lender can continue to carry out foreign currency conversion activities in the country, the central bank said in a note seen by Reuters.
Standard Bank said in a statement that the current suspension does not materially affect its ability to trade with its clients in the country.
“The Bank continues to work with the (Bank of Mozambique) to resolve all outstanding issues of the 2021 audit, in order to be re-admitted to the interbank foreign exchange market,” it said.
(Reporting by Manuel Mucari; Writing by Bhargav Acharya in Bengaluru; Editing by James Macharia Chege)
