RBZ cancels Tetrad’s licence

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has cancelled Tetrad Investment Bank’s operating licence at the institution’s behest as it ventures into management and development of property after failing to be recapitalised.

In a notice in the Government Gazette published on Friday, the RBZ’s registrar of banking institutions said Tetrad surrendered its banking licence after it failed to commence operations following the lifting of provisional judicial management in October 2018.

“The institution unsuccessfully courted potential investors and failed to put in place requisite infrastructure to facilitate commencement of banking operations. In the circumstances, the maintenance of registration of Tetrad Investment Bank Limited as a banking institution is undesirable. Accordingly, the Registrar has cancelled the bank’s licence in terms of section 14(4) of the Banking Act. As a consequence of the said cancellation, Tetrad Investment Bank Limited is no longer a banking institution as defined in the Banking Act, and, therefore, its status is that of a company in terms of the Companies and Other Business Entities Act [Chapter 24:31],” the registrar said.

The registrar said the institution did not have depositors on its books, following the process undertaken during the provisional judicial management period.

In 2014, RBZ suspended Tetrad from taking deposits and issuing loans after it emerged that the financial institution was failing to honour maturing liabilities, including depositors’ funds.

In July, Tetrad Investment Bank shareholders unanimously voted to surrender its banking licence and convert it to a property development company at an extraordinary general meeting held at the Harare Golf Club.

The moribund bank, which reportedly has an asset portfolio of US$13 million, is now owned by its shareholders after a debt-to-equity scheme of arrangement in September 2015.-newday