Zimbabwe: Foreign banks told to comply with empowerment laws

Foreign-owned banks operating in Zimbabwe, including Barclays Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and Stanbic Zimbabwe, could face “punitive measures” if they fail to transfer majority shareholding to black Zimbabweans. Gideon Gono, Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, told the Sunday Mail newspaper that banks cannot be selective when it comes to which laws of the country to obey. He, however, added that the government is still deciding on how to handle the empowerment programme for the banking sector. Under Zimbabwe’s indigenisation law, foreign firms must cede a 51% stake to local Zimbabweans. Read the full article at Reuters.


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