Maputo, Feb. 13, 2025 (Lusa) - The Bank of Mozambique announced on Thursday that it has removed the resident inspector it had sent into Standard Bank, on the basis that the institution has made significant progress in terms of the culture of risk, governance and internal control.
"This decision stems from the effective collaboration of Standard Bank, SA and its shareholder, as well as the significant progress made in the institution's risk culture, governance and internal controls," reads the Bank of Mozambique's news release, sent to the media.
The central bank stressed, however, that Standard Bank remains subject to supervision in accordance with the procedures applied to other banking institutions in Mozambique.
On 14 October, the Bank of Mozambique appointed Cláudio Júlio Mangue, a senior central bank official, to the position of resident inspector at Standard Bank with the aim of ensuring its monitoring.
At the time, it said that the appointment was justified by the need to "ensure continuous, objective and impartial monitoring of the activities of credit institutions and financial companies, preserving the interests of customers and ensuring the stability of the financial system."
The Bank of Mozambique had previously appointed resident inspectors for Banco Comercial e de Investimentos, S.A (BCI), Millennium - Banco Internacional de Moçambique (BIM) and Absa Bank Mozambique, SA.
BCI, Millennium BIM and Standard Bank are the three banks that were considered by the central bank to be systemic in 2024, as they had been in 2023. Two banks - Moza and Absa - were considered quasi-systemic.
The combined profits of Mozambique's five largest banks - Standard Bank, BCI, Millennium BIM, Moza Banco and Absa -grew 9.5% year on year in the first half of 2024, to more than 12.433 billion meticais (almost €179 million), with Standard Bank leading the way, according to data compiled on 13 August 2024 by Lusa, based on the interim financial reports for the first half of the year of Mozambique's five largest banks. In the first half of 2023, the figure had been 11.360 billion meticais (€162.8 million).
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