K50m paid to liquidated IBC depositors

ABOUT K50 million has been paid to clients of the Intermarket Banking Corporation which is currently under possession by the Bank of Zambia (BoZ).

Zambia Industrial Commercial Bank Limited (ZICB), a newly established local bank, which has taken over some of the liabilities of Intermarket Banking Corporation paid off the clients. ZICB has been established from the restructuring of Intermarket Banking Corporation. ZICB chief executive officer, Ignatius Mwanza, explained that the institution upon establishment was given two mandates; to pay off depositors and to open a new bank to the public. Mr Mwanza said in an interview in Lusaka that the bank had since paid money to 5,900 depositors. “The first mandate was urgent so we focussed on it though concurrently we are still working on the logistics of the new bank. The total amount we were supposed to pay out was K66 million. “Just about K50 million has been paid out and a lot of customers felt that they are comfortable with the shareholding and left the money in the bank,” he said. Mr Mwanza said ZICB was however still in discussion with BoZ regarding the size of assets the new bank would resume. He also emphasised that ZICB, with substantial capital injection, was not part of Intermarket-bank which was still in existence. Mr Mwanza said ZICB had taken over some liabilities to ensure that depositors were not affected with the liquidation of the bank. “The BoZ dissected Intermarket into two. The idea was that for the good portion of the bank that should be up for grabs or be taken over by the new bank that was formed. “So there are two banks here, Intermarket and ZICB which is new. The good side of Intermarket comprised certain assets and liabilities so all the deposit liabilities were assumed by the new bank, which means the new bank was assuming a burden,” Mr Mwanza explained. Mr Mwanza said the top 11 depositors of Intermarket banking corporation such as Workers compensation Fund Control Board, Madison Financial Services and the National Pension Scheme Authority converted their deposits into equity to become shareholders. He said this followed a suggestion by BoZ as a way of saving the bank. In subsequent discussions, he said, the Industrial Development Corporation also stepped forward and put some money on the table.