Zimbabwe penalized 12 banks for “financial indiscipline” that fueled inflation and undermined the currency, the Herald newspaper cited President Emmerson Mnangagwa as saying.
The unidentified institutions have received unspecified “hefty penalties,” Mnangagwa told supporters of the ruling party on last week after opening a gold-processing facility, according to the Harare-based paper.
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The central bank probed a total of 16 lenders suspected of “financial malfeasance” that resulted in a spike in the exchange rate on the parallel market, the president was cited as saying.
The 12 that were fined “pleaded with us not to publicize their identities, saying if we do so they will lose clients,” the Herald quoted Mnangagwa as saying. “We agreed and warned them that if they repeat the indiscipline, we will make their identities known to the public.”